ÖFB women before the duel with Poland: “We want to show a reaction”

The ÖFB women will meet Poland on Friday in the penultimate qualifying match for EURO 2025 (from 6pm on the live stream).

With four points from four games and third in their Euro 2025 qualifying group, Foreman's side are under pressure with two days to go.

After Iceland's disappointing double, a win over bottom-placed Poland is now mandatory to secure a direct ticket to the European Championship.

“The last course definitely didn't go the way we imagined,” says Frankfurt's Barbara Dunst of the two matches against Iceland. “That's why we wanted to show a clear reaction against Poland.”

Team president Erin Foreman is also disappointed that she is “still there,” but the hope for “a football fairy tale” is still there.

“We know the importance of the match, but we have prepared well and intensively and we will definitely give our all in this match,” she said. But it is also important to “learn from the mistakes of the Iceland matches” and “have more fun playing again.”

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“The goal is clear, we want to win,” agrees Liverpool’s Marie-Therese Hubinger. The 23-year-old expects a similar match against Poland in the first leg. “We know we’re up against a good team. They played a good qualifying campaign despite not getting any points,” she says.

Barbara Dunst also emphasizes the qualities of the Polish women, saying: “They have great transition players and they will challenge us physically.”

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Both players see the long break between the last international against Iceland and the fifth qualifier against Poland as a positive. “The break was good. We were able to focus on other things and spend some time with the family. We will all come back stronger,” Hubinger said before the match in Altach.

For team boss Forman, not all the question marks have been cleared up before the important match, she wants to wait until the evening to make decisions: “Some players had to suffer minor injuries in the final training session,” says Forman, 43. The old one who is still in consultation with the medical department wants to keep him.

“The door is open for Feininger.”

Forman also commented on the potential personnel problem in the future. When asked about the return of new Austrian player Karina Fenninger, she kept all options open: “I heard about it from the media and I haven't spoken to her yet about whether she wants to return to the national team or not. But the door is open.” “It's not open either,” she says.

“If she performs at the highest level, it would be foolish not to open the door for her again,” she adds.