Austria ease past Kosovo to continue perfect start in Nations League B3

[p]After both nations were victorious on matchday one, this presented an opportunity to maintain their respective 100% Nations League records in their first-ever meeting.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/austria/naHiWdnt/"]Austria[/a]’s quest to return to League A at the second time of asking almost got off to a rocky start as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/kosovo/v1DTPQwI/"]Kosovo[/a] came close to opening the scoring after six minutes through [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/muriqi-vedat/CjwNDgqi/"]Vedat Muriqi[/a], but the Fenerbahce striker blazed over from inside the box. [/p][p]The away side were made to pay for that missed opportunity as the hosts began to dominate and made it count in the 23rd minute.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/schmid-romano/lGA7E78J/"]Romano Schmid[/a] lined up a free-kick from 30 yards out, and instead of going for goal, he clipped a ball into the box for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/affengruber-david/EFLxG99f/"]David Affengruber[/a] to head home. [/b][/p][p][b]Das Team continued to dominate and doubled their lead on the verge of half-time as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/wimmer-patrick/jsOwmeQB/"]Patrick Wimmer[/a] raced through on goal, and instead of going alone, squared for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/adamu-chikwubuike/4n7MpZtg/"]Junior Adamu[/a] to tap into an empty net.[/b][/p][embed guid="f948833d-035c-4e62-8f8b-4f70d4f6c7ed" url="https://x.com/oefb1904/status/2104254783284547997" social-type="twitter" /][p]Franco Foda turned to his bench ahead of the restart, making a triple change. The substitutes saw an uptick in performance as Muriqi twice went close to pulling a goal back minutes into the second half but was denied by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zawieschitzky-christian/YcOMEEQT/"]Christian Zawieschitzky[/a] before his rebounded effort was cleared off the line.[/p][p][b]The Kosovans were made to rue those missed opportunities as Austria put the game to bed on the hour mark. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/muric-arijanet/CfsIdb20/"]Arijanet[/a] flapped [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/wanner-paul/hpGfyeg0/"]Paul Wanner[/a]’s low ball into the six-yard box, which allowed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/chukwuemeka-carney/tpQg2gso/"]Carney Chukwuemeka[/a] to fire home. [/b][/p][p]The Kosovan stopper was then substituted for an injury caused in the melee of the goal, making his evening even worse.[/p][image alt="Key match stats" id="6d36ddd3-9061-4b91-a03a-0469dea2906e" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="d6c2b3ec-1f00-4666-9331-acd480f72cf3" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]Ralf Rangnick’s men hardly got out of second gear for much of the contest and were perhaps made to pay as Kosovo pulled a goal back from the penalty spot with a little under 10 minutes to go.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zhegrova-edon/vqK5oQ8e/"]Edon Zhegrova[/a] dispatched the spot-kick after Affengruber was penalised for a foul in the box, but despite pulling a goal back, Kosovo will be left disappointed. [/b][/p][p]Their run of consecutive victories comes to an end, but they will have a chance for revenge in the reverse fixture next Sunday. Austria, meanwhile, are now unbeaten in 16 games at home (W13, D3).[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/wimmer-patrick/jsOwmeQB/"]Patrick Wimmer[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/austria/naHiWdnt/"]Austria[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/austria-naHiWdnt/kosovo-v1DTPQwI/summary/stats/?mid=KEDEkJSO"]Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]