This Nation

In Greek mythology there is a reoccurring theme that pops up. Which is the relationships between father and son. Oedipus fulfilled the prophecy that he would kill his father to marry his mother. Further back in this wonderful tradition there was the epic saga of Titans and Olympians. In the beginning there was Uranus the first god. His youngest son Cronus rose up to take his place. Castrated him and banished him to the Underworld, so that he could become king. Cronus in turn had a son, Zeus who rose his hand against him and took his place. In almost every case the son supersedes the father and in football similar scripts are written. Portugal spawned Brazil in every since word, politically, historically and economically but on a football pitch Portugal are the paupers compared to the South Americans. The thing is it's very painful living under the thumb of anyone. New Zealand lives in Australia's shadow as does Canada in America's. It's not easy living next to a giant as Austria will tell you.
 It's a pity that no matter what Austria does in football it will always fall short when stacked against Germany's pedigree. So where does Austria lie on the football totem pole? As I type this, the men from Vienna sit 60th in FIFA world rankings. The highest they have ever been so far is 17th and the lowest was 105th. If you are one who puts great weight behind FIFA rankings one could say the Austrians tend to float around in the upper middle class in football while periodically dipping from time to time. Austria made it's first bow in the international realm against her oldest ally Hungary in 1902 in a friendly, the Austrians coming out 5-0 winners in the match. In the first World Cup held in Uruguay, Austria didn't enter along with Germany in 1930 due to political reasons.Withdrawal and deciding not to compete in major international tournaments is a theme that Austria knows all to well. Despite obtaining the fourth position in the 1934 World Cup in Italy, Austria made itself scarce in the two World Cups preceding Italy. Austria's annexation from Germany in 1938 meant although the Austrian's had qualified for the World Cup in France they weren't able to play due to the dissolving of the Austrian Football Association thus Austria could not field a team so the Germans stood in their stead. "Purely," a footballing decision saw the Austrians pull out of qualification for Brazil 1950. The Austrians stating the team was, "too inexperienced." In 1954 the Austrians crossed the border to Switzerland where the close proximity to home pushed them to a 3rd place showing, only ousted by the familiar figure of Germany the eventual tournament champions. The year 1958 brought the World Cup to Sweden where Austria finished at the bottom just amassing one point. Austria, from World Cups 1962 to 1974 were missing and went through a lull on the international stage for more than a decade until they found their way back in 1978 at the games in Argentina. World Cups in Spain in 1982 and Italy in 1990 followed, with France 98 the last time the Austrians played in football's marquee to this date.The European Championships hasn't been very kind to them either. Since the Euros inception in 1960 the Austrians have only qualified for one to this date and that was only because they co-host the venture with Switzerland in 2008. They finished bottom of their group, with them once again looking up at the Germans.
  It hasn't been an iconic footballing history for Austria mainly because they have not produced a crop of players to really spur them on. Hans Krankl is without a doubt the "wunderkid," of Austrian football. Back in the day he was as it got for Austria. Since then the likes of Andreas Herzog and Ivica Vastic had Austria plugging along for a bit but the fact is the most recent crop and maybe those directly after the Krankl has been very ordinary. Paul Schraner is the first person who comes to mind when I certainly think of present day Austria, second is Sebastian Prodl. Both fine players in their own right but not good enough to push Austria on, in a very tough UEFA qualifying zone. Then there is the nearly men. Christoph Leitgeb, Andreas Ivanschitz and Emmanuel Pogatetz. These guys were suppose to lift the national team from the mire. What Austria got was flashes from the trio, the fact that all of them played the bulk of their careers so far at middle level clubs says a lot. We have had cameos from the likes of Roland Linz, Martin Harnik, Erwin Hoffer, Marc Janko and the giant Stefan Maierhofer but none have really done the job. Then there is the future, which is pretty much David Alaba and Marko Arnautovic. In contrast the Swiss seem to making Xherdan Shaqiri(s) every week and the Germans...I don't even have to say anything about their production line it speaks for itself.
  Austria may not be able to produce wave of players on mass like the other European aristocrats but it does have a rich history and with that they can hopefully inspire a desperately needed star. The formula is, pluck the best youngsters from the Austrian Bundesliga thrust them into the first teams in Austria or export them. They won't master Germany but Cronus thought that about Zeus.

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