😮 Still tired from travel chaos? Bundesliga striker stuns Austria! | OneFootball

On Saturday, Austria missed the early World Cup qualification, despite the team winning 2-0 against Cyprus. After the game, the team experienced a true odyssey at the airport: the plane not only took off much too late – some suitcases even had to stay on the ground because the luggage was overall too heavy. For instance, Austria's supervisory board chairman Josef Pröll had to continue traveling without his suitcase for the time being.

Does the missed early qualification, combined with the luggage chaos and the sleepless night from Saturday to Sunday, still have an effect today? One might at least suspect so, because in the last qualification match of Group H, Bosnia and Herzegovina currently has the upper hand – while Sabitzer, Laimer & Co. actually seem a bit tired and somewhat helpless since the early setback.

In the 12th minute of the game, it was Gladbach striker Haris Tabakovic who caught a bounce from Memić with his head and sent it straight into the net. The supposed equalizer by the Austrians shortly before the break by Konrad Laimer did not count. The goal was disallowed after reviewing the footage because the scorer had committed a foul in the build-up to the goal – at least that's the decision of the referee at the monitor, which was not necessarily undisputed at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna. 

For a short time, the Bosnians thus had the direct World Cup ticket secured, and Rangnick's Austrians would have had to go into the playoffs in March. 

Shortly before the break, that was not the only surprising result: Scotland leads 1-0 against Denmark thanks to an early dream goal by Scott McTominay and temporarily shot themselves to the top of Group C. 

After 57 minutes, Rasmus Höjlund scored the equalizer with a penalty, which Scotland countered with a renewed lead – however, shortly before the end, it currently stands at 2-2, meaning Denmark would have secured direct qualification. 

Austria also equalized in the last quarter of an hour. Michael Gregoritsch powered a rebound off the crossbar over the line, putting his country back on the right track towards direct World Cup qualification. 

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 JOE KLAMAR - AFP or licensors