Two of our globetrotting Green-Whites have been able to celebrate their first points of EURO 2024 in the last couple of days. Milos Veljkovic’s Serbia scored a last-gasp equaliser to rescue a draw against Slovenia, while Romano Schmid made a cameo appearance in Austria’s 3-1 victory over Poland.
Romano Schmid’s relief as Austria secured their first three points of the European Championship was plain for all to see. After making his first appearance at the continental finals in Austria’s loss against France, he added another ten minutes to his tally at the Berlin Olympiastadion. Schmid, alongside new Werder team-mate Marco Grüll, was named on the bench by coach Ralf Rangnick, and watched on as Gernot Trauner put Austria in front within the opening 10 minutes. The sides went into the break with the scores level after Krystof Piatek’s equaliser on the half-hour mark.
Rangnick’s side turned up the intensity after the break and pulled away from their opponents through Christoph Baumgartner (66’) and former Werder attacker Marko Arnautovic (78’). Schmid was brought on for Baumgartner in the closing stages as Austria looked to see the game out, and also provided an attacking threat. The 3-1 win gives Austria every chance of progressing, but they face tough opposition in their final group game, with the Netherlands awaiting them on Tuesday (18:00 CEST).
After Serbia’s narrow 1-0 defeat to England in their opening game, they faced Slovenia looking to make amends and keep their chances of progression alive. Zan Karnicnik put Slovenia in front with just over 20 minutes remaining, but Luka Jovic’s header deep into stoppage time secured a point for Dragan Stojkovic’s men. Just as he did against England, Veljkovic played the full 90 minutes, and is likely to do the same in Serbia’s final group game against Denmark (Tuesday, 21:00 CEST), where a win would give them an excellent chance of progressing to the last 16.
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