With the first win of the season, Austria left the bottom of the table last week. The 2-0 win at LASK left its mark: "The mood was good before that, too, but it's even nicer when you go into training with a win. Wins also help to confirm confidence in yourself and in the coaching team," explains Manfred Schmid.

In the standings, almost all teams are close together. Altach is seventh with eight points, Austria is tenth with seven and is only one point behind fourth place. For the first time this season, all squad players are fit, and right-back Marvin Martins is also back in full training:

Heart, passion and brain

"The players can prove themselves in the training sessions. The basics that a professional soccer player must bring to the pitch are: Heart, passion and brain. It is important that the players push each other within the team. We've trained a lot and hard in recent weeks and notice that the level in training has risen. Certain processes get better the longer you work together," Schmid says.

The Austria coach knows that the team must continue to improve in many areas, not least the use of opportunities has not been optimal: "In recent weeks, it has become apparent that we are not consistently exploiting our opportunities. Working on precision in front of goal is part of our daily training work, because one thing is clear: if we put a striker in the situation more often in training, he can automate the finishes for the match."