Austria coach Hicksberger looking to avoid another humiliation

About 18 years after Josef Hickersberger's first stint with Austria's national team ended in humiliation, the 60-year-old coach is looking to spring an upset at this year's European Championship.

It won't be easy.

Austria, which is co-hosting Euro 2008 with Switzerland, has won only one of its last 14 matches, and the team dropped out of the top 100 in FIFA's world rankings for the first time last year.

"We know that we are going through a difficult phase," Austrian soccer federation president Friedrich Stickler said. "We have to stick together. We will get through this period and hopefully be a strong team in June 2008." At the tournament in June, Austria will face Croatia, Poland and Germany in Group B.

Hickersberger, a former midfielder who played 39 matches for Austria in the 1970s, became national coach in 1987 and led Austria to the 1990 World Cup in Italy, where it was eliminated in the first round.

He was forced to quit three days after a humiliating 1-0 loss to the Faeroe Islands in a European Championship qualifier a few months later.

Hickersberger returned to the job in January 2006, when he left Rapid Vienna to replace Hans Krankl, who had failed to qualify for that year's World Cup in Germany.

Since then, Hickersberger has drastically rejuvenated the squad in an attempt to build a team that could do well at Euro 2008, but the Austrians still lost four of their first five matches - the country's worst start for a national team coach.

Shortly after that, defender Emanuel Pogatetz was barred from the team for publicly criticizing Hickersberger and accusing him of being tactically incompetent.

Austria regained some self-confidence with a three-match winning streak at the end of 2006, but Hickersberger came under criticism again when his team did not win any of its first eight matches in 2007.

Growing rumors about a new coach taking over were denied by Stickler, who publicly backed Hickersberger shortly before the team beat Ivory Coast 3-2 in October.

Apart from the return of Pogatetz, Hickersberger ignored calls for choosing more experienced players such as former international Ivica Vastic, who scored more than 30 goals for LASK Linz and was voted Player of the Year in Austria in 2007.

Austria then lost three of its next four games: to England, Germany and the Netherlands.

"It was my task to rejuvenate the team, which means you must count on throwbacks and deal with them," Hickersberger said.

"The games against Germany and the Netherlands showed that we are on the right way. We can get points from, and even beat the best teams of the world when everything fits. ... We decided to make the team younger and I will not change my opinion on that."

However, Hickersberger, who is a passionate chess player, made a surprise move when compiling the provisional squad for Euro 2008, which did include the 38-year-old Vastic.

"I have not tried to nominate Austria's best players, but those who are important for Euro 2008," said Hickersberger, whose contract expires at the end of this year.

"Only after a successful championship, I will be willing to continue," Hickersberger added. "Why should I continue if Euro 2008 isn't satisfying to us?" Though his future is still in doubt, Hickersberger said he knows the federation is already looking for his possible successor.

"I am sure they have been talking to some coaches now. That's normal," Hickersberger said. "It's an association's duty to prepare for all casualties."

Sapa-AP