Austria coach Marcel Koller has dropped out-of-form striker Philipp Hosiner for this month's friendly against the United States.
Hosiner, who scored 29 goals to help Austria Vienna win the domestic league last season, has been a regular under Koller since 2011 but was missing from the 24-man squad announced Tuesday by the coach.
''He is having a difficult time after last year where everything went fantastic for him and for the club,'' Koller said. ''I will keep an eye on him for the future but now he needs to work hard with his club.''
Hosiner was replaced by Groedig forward Philipp Zulechner, who got his first call-up.
Also missing was Mainz midfielder Julian Baumgartlinger, who had left knee surgery last week.
Austria plays the United States in Vienna on Nov. 19 in the teams' third meeting. Austria won 2-1 at the 1990 World Cup in Italy but was beaten 3-0 in a friendly in Vienna eight years later.
''I saw five recent games and they used different players each time,'' Koller said. ''They have a couple of excellent strikers, players with great individual qualities who can easily score.''
Koller extended his contract with the Austrian football federation to 2015 last week despite failing to qualify for next year's World Cup. The team will have a seven-day training camp in Alicante, Spain, before taking on the United States.
''We won't start doing things completely different,'' Koller said. ''However, I intend to make a few tactical changes. No new system, but just trying out some alternatives.''
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Austria:
Goalkeepers: Robert Almer (Cottbus), Heinz Lindner (Austria Vienna), Ramazan Oezcan (Ingolstadt)
Defenders: Aleksandar Dragovic (Dynamo Kiev), Christian Fuchs (Schalke), Gyoergy Garics (Bologna), Martin Hinteregger (Salzburg), Florian Klein (Salzburg), Emanuel Pogatetz (Nuremberg), Sebastian Proedl (Werder Bremen), Manuel Ortlechner (Austria Vienna), Markus Suttner (Austria Vienna)
Midfielders: David Alaba (Bayern Munich), Marko Arnautovic (Stoke), Martin Harnik (Stuttgart), Andreas Ivanschitz (Levante), Zlatko Junuzovic (Werder Bremen), Veli Kavlak (Besiktas), Christoph Leitgeb (Salzburg), Marcel Sabitzer (Rapid Vienna)
Forwards: Lukas Hinterseer (Wacker Innsbruck), Marc Janko (Trabzonspor), Andreas Weimann (Aston Villa), Philipp Zulechner (Groedig)
