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08. 02. 10. - 16:00

Austria want to 'achieve the unrealistic' as team will face Germany

Austrian national football team manager Dietmar Constantini said he wanted to "achieve the unrealistic" as Austria will face Turkey and archrivals Germany in Euro2012 qualification play.

"With Germany and Turkey, we were seeded two top teams and with Belgium a good opponent," Constantini said after yesterday’s (Sun) drawing in Warsaw, Poland.

He added: "Managing to qualify must always be the goal. It seems unrealistic, but it’s what we want to achieve."

Apart from Belgium, Euro2008 vice champions Germany and star-studded Turkey, Austria will play Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in group A from September.

Only the group winners will directly qualify for the 2012 European Championships set to take place in Poland and Ukraine. Teams that come in second will clash in a play-off round.

Germany manager Joachim Löw, who worked in Austria at FC Tirol and Austria Vienna, said: "I’m looking forward to the matches. With Austria, we’ve drawn a neighbouring country, while Turkey is a very strong team."

Austria lost to Germany in the Euro2008 group stage 0-1 thanks to a free-kick by Chelsea star Michael Ballack.

Leo Windtner, head of the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB), said: "We must not be dissatisfied. With Germany and Turkey, we’ll play strong teams that are expected to draw crowds. There are no easy groups."

Austria failed to qualify for this summer’s World Cup. The team finished in third place in their qualification group 7 behind Serbia and France. Austria’s 3-1 victory against France in September 2008 is regarded as the team’s only highlight in their bid to qualify for South Africa.

Austria’s last match took place last November when the team went down 1-5 against Euro2008 winners Spain in a friendly in Vienna.

Austrian Times

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