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Adventure at an end: Austria bow out against Spain
FOR ROMANO SCHMID AND MARCO FRIEDL, THE WORLD CUP ENDS AT THE ROUND OF 32
02/07/26
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Romano Schmid and Marco Friedl were knocked out of the FIFA World Cup in Canada, the USA and Mexico on Thursday evening, 2nd July 2026, in the round of 32. Austria lost 3-0 to European Champions Spain in Los Angeles. That leaves just one Werder player still in the tournament, while at the U19 European Championship, Mick Schmetgens heads into a decisive group-stage clash.
From the outset, the match was dominated by Spain, who clearly had the upper hand as far as possession was concerned, pushing high up the pitch. While Romano Schmid started the game and was required to put in plenty of defensive work, Marco Friedl remained on the bench. Austria defended diligently against the tournament favourites’ sustained pressure, but ultimately could not withstand it. A strike from Marc Cucurella was initially disallowed for a suspected foul (30’), before Mikel Oyarzabal capitalised on a rare clear-cut opening to give Spain the lead just before half time (36’).
After the break, the pattern of play initially remained unchanged. The Austria head coach then responded with a double substitution, introducing former Werder forward Marko Arnautovic and Sasa Kalajdzic as fresh attacking options. Schmid was withdrawn after 60 minutes. Spain, however, stayed on top and effectively sealed the result with a headed goal from Pedro Porro (66’), before Oyarzabal added his second to complete the scoring (89’).
The result means Werder’s latest signing Cedric Itten is the last remaining Bremen player at the World Cup. Itten watched from the bench as his nation, Switzerland, defeated Algeria 2-0 on Friday morning, 3rd July 2026 to progress to the round of 16.
Schmetgens heading for group decider, Croatia still have a slim chance
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Patrice Čović, Karlo Šimić and Croatia’s U19 side still have only outside hopes of reaching the knockout stage at the European Championship in Wales. They drew 0-0 with Ukraine, with Čović playing the full 90 minutes and Šimić coming on in the 72nd minute. To reach the semi-finals, the Croatians need both a win of their own and help from Ukraine in their game against Italy. Čović, Šimić & Co. must defend third place in their group in the direct clash with Serbia (Sun, 5th July, 17:00 CEST) to keep alive their chances of qualifying for the U20 World Cup.
That tournament spot has already been secured by Mick Schmetgens and Germany, along with their place in the European Championship semi-final stage, following a 3-0 win over Wales. “It’s a superb achievement from the team,” said Schmetgens. “Against Denmark, we could only point to ourselves for keeping the game unnecessarily tight, and we corrected that in the second match. We’re taking a good feeling into the next games, where big challenges await us.” First up is a showdown for top spot in the group against unbeaten Spain (Sat, 4th July, 15:00 CEST), before the business end of the tournament begins.
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