Midfielder Romano Schmid has returned to Werder after a successful international break with Austria’s U21 side. He and his side still have a chance to qualify for the European Championship, and their win against Norway saw him named captain for the first time and score the opener. He spoke to us about wearing the armband for his country, the end of this season and his position in the Werder squad.
…his international break and captaincy: “It was successful in that we still have the chance to qualify for the U21 EUROs. Not much has changed in terms of my self-confidence though. Yes, it was my first time being captain, and that’s very important for me, but I don’t think I’ve needed to gain any extra self-confidence. I learned that I would be captain of the side about three hours before the first game against Croatia. I knew that I had been a candidate for the captaincy for a while and I think I’m a pretty senior member of that squad, so it wasn’t too big a change at the end of the day. I was the one to hold the team talk before the game, that was the only difference. I’m certainly very proud of it though.”
…the end of the season: “I think that each and every one of us is fired up for the final stages of this season, myself included. We’ve got a really awesome team, so I believe in the lads and we’re concentrating on each game as it comes. When you reach a certain place in the table, you don’t want to give it up, for sure, but the fact is that we’re taking things game by game and are looking forward to Sunday. We’re fully focused on the Sandhausen match now and then after that we’ll start looking at the games that follow.”
…this weekend’s game against Sandhausen: “We saw in the first meeting with them this season that they have their strengths and can hurt us. We’re still going into the game with confidence though and will try and get the win. We all know that we can’t afford to underestimate them.”
…his position in the team: "I feel like I’ve really got a foothold now. The coach prefers me in the number eight role, and that’s where I believe I’m at my best too. Whether in that position or in a different one though, I will give 100 percent. I think all of the coaching staff know my strengths and I that I fit into our system really well.”
