There’s not long to go now until EURO 2024 kicks off in Germany, with the nations involved having now played their last friendlies before the tournament. Serbia won 3-0 in Sweden to gain some confidence, while Austria extended their unbeaten run to seven games with a 1-1 draw in Switzerland. Of Werder’s three players going to the tournament, only Romano Schmid was involved in these games, starting the third match in a row for Austria.
The Graz-born midfielder played the full 90 minutes for Austria for the first time. They went ahead after just five minutes through Leipzig’s Christoph Baumgartner, however Silvan Widmer of Mainz levelled things for the home team 20 minutes later. Schmid has earned a place in Ralf Rangnick’s side with his recent performances and looks likely to get minutes at the upcoming tournament.
Summer signing Marco Grüll was an unused sub for the final friendly against Switzerland, but will be part of their squad for EURO 2024. The 25-year-old won his fourth cap in the recent game against Serbia and will be hoping to make his tournament debut, just like Schmid. Despite Austria’s tough group, consisting of games against France (17/6), Poland (21/6) and the Netherlands (25/6), their recent good form means they go into the tournament full of hope.
Serbia rounded off their preparations for the tournament with an impressive 3-0 win in Sweden. Milos Veljkovic, who started the previous game in midweek against Austria, didn’t feature and will have to wait for his 31st cap.
The 28-year-old will give his best in the last week of training before the tournament so that he is involved in Serbia’s first game against England (16/6) in Gelsenkirchen. Their other group games are against Slovenia (20/6) and Denmark (25/6).
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— Fudbalski savez Srbije | FA of Serbia (@FSSrbije) June 7, 2024
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