SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Dejan Ljubicic last played for Austria almost three years ago. He made a surprise comeback in the tournament due to an injury to a teammate. world cup.
Austria coach Ralf Rangnick called up Ljubicic late on Wednesday to replace key midfielder Christoph Baumgartner. Baumgartner injured his right thigh during the warm-up for last week’s pre-World Cup friendly against Tunisia, which required surgery.
Ljubicic is scheduled to join the Austrian national team at a team camp in Santa Barbara on Thursday ahead of the team’s first game against Jordan on Tuesday. Austria will also play Argentina and Algeria. Group J.
He scored 17 goals in all competitions for Leipzig in Germany last season and is a better defensive midfield option than Baumgartner, who remains in camp to support the team.
Ljubicic also plays in Germany schalke The team was promoted from the second division last month.
Ljubicic has appeared in nine games for Austria, but not in a single major competition. His last appearance was in a friendly against Moldova in September 2023, and he was not included in the World Cup qualifying squad.
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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup
