Ireland played Austria twice in 1995, but generally the more remembered of the two games was the home fixture on June 11th.
That game evokes memories of Toni Polster, curly hair, Harry Ramsden and an embarrassing 3-1 defeat, but the game in Vienna three months later finished in the same scoreline, and nearly cost us our place in the playoff for Euro '96 altogether.
image: sportsfile
We all possess different memories of Austria from the mid-90's, and here is an update on the whereabouts of three of their pivotal players from that era, who tore Ireland apart both in Vienna in Dublin in the space of three months.
1. Anton 'Toni' Polster
The man with the perm scored twice at Lansdowne Road and got the full Balls treatment earlier this year before the game at the Aviva.
- In the years since scoring against us, Polster continued scoring goals until 2000 with Koln, Borussia Monchengladbach and, the then named, Austria Salzburg.
- Polster ended his carreer as Austria's all time record goalscorer with 44, a record that still stands. Good but no Robbie Keane.
- Post retirement is when he got interesting however. He got sacked as manager of Admira Wacker of the Austrian Bundesliga just last month after just three games in charge.
- Aditionally, Toni is the lead singer of Austrian band Achtung Liebe, which you can enjoy below.
- The best Toni fact of all however, is that his nickname is Doppelpack, because he always scores twice.
2. Andreas Herzog
- Andy went on to become Austria's most capped player, racking up 103 appearances between 1988 and 2003.
image: wikipedia
- He had a successful club career in Germany, spending a year with Bayern from 95-96 and subsequently five years with Werder Bremen.
- He scored this screamer against Sweden in 1997.
- In 2004, pre-David Beckham, Herzog played for Los Angeles Galaxy for a season.
- Andy is now assistant to Jurgen Klinsmann with the US national team, who play a crucial qualifier themselves tonight against Mexico in Columbus, Ohio.
3. Peter Stöger
It was, in fact, Stoger who tore us apart in Vienna, scoring all three goals in our 1-3 defeat.
- A fifth of his international goals came that night against us in September 1995.
-. He played his entire club career in Austria with 9 different clubs, including Vienna rivals Rapid and Austria Vienna.
- Peter Stoger is the name of a restaurant in Weiler, in the west of Austria.
- He is probably better known for his managerial career. Stoger steered Austria Vienna to the Austrian championship in May, and has since moved on to coach Koln in 2.Bundesliga, formerly of Toni Ploster.
image:goal
For some action from that defeat in 1995, check out the blurry action below.
