Herzog approaches Austrian century

Andreas Herzog is set to win his 100th Austrian cap next Wednesday after being including in Hans Krankl's squad to play Norway at the Hanappi stadium in Vienna. The friendly will also mark Peter Scöttel's 63rd and last match for Austria.

Manninger excluded
Yet there is no place in the squad for Alex Manninger, he pays the price for being without a club and is replaced by Thomas Mandl of FK Austria Wien and Sunderland AFC's Jürgen Macho. Krankl said: "Mandl was a clear choice for me. He is a young man, who is showing also increased international form."

Four more newcomers
In addition to Mandl and Macho there are four other newcomers in the 20-man squad. They are defensive duo Anton Ehmann from Grazer AK and Schwarz-Weiss Bregenz's Patrick Pircher; Hibernian FC midfield player Alen Orman and Matthias Dollinger, who plays his football in the Austrian second division for DSV Leoben. 

'Strong Norwegians'
Krankl said of Austria's opponents: "I do not need to say much about the strong Norwegians. Most of them play in Great Britain. Norway's quality is much higher, we can only try to surprise them and learn a lot." Austria's UEFA EURO 2004™ Group 3 campaign began with victories against Moldova and Belarus, but received a setback with a 3-0 home defeat by the Netherlands.

Austria squad
Macho, Mandl, Ehmann, Hiden, Pircher, Pogatetz, Scharner, Aufhauser, Flögel, Herzog, Kovacevic, Orman, Schopp, Scöttel, Wagner, Weissenberger, Akagündüz, Dollinger, Kahraman, Wallner.