Anyone who is criticized in Austria must assume that Armin Wolf is already thinking up questions.

He is the journalist who moderates the TV news program ZiB2 and who personally confronts everyone who dares with the criticism.

A few weeks ago, for example, he interviewed Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

Christopher Meltzer

Sports correspondent in Munich.

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    It was about the allegation of false testimony that the economic and corruption prosecutor's office had brought against Kurz.

    Great conversation.

    Both Wolf and Kurz were very well prepared.

    The Chancellor even read from a piece of paper in between.

    And if you use YouTube to recollect how Wolf tackled the country's most important politician, the questions Franco Foda was supposed to answer more than two years earlier were just a foretaste.

    On a Monday evening in March, in Israel, the Austrian national soccer team also lost the second match in qualifying for the European Championship the day before, Foda is tuned into the show.

    He was born in Mainz, but has lived in Graz for many years.

    There he stopped as a player and started as a coach.

    "Did you underestimate that?"

    “I'm already half Austrian,” he once said in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, so it is not surprising that he was selected as national coach by the Austrian Football Association in October 2017.

    But now he is under criticism and hears Armin Wolf asks him on the show: “As a player, you had hardly any international team experience.

    Have you perhaps underestimated the job as national coach, which is very different from club coach? ”Uff.

    It has been more than two years since Foda, 55 years old, answered the questions on television.

    Since then, his team's results have improved.

    She won six of the next eight games in European Championship qualification.

    You won against North Macedonia (3: 1) the first ever Austrian European Championship victory.

    She then lost against the Netherlands (0: 2), in the third game, against the Ukraine (6 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Football Championship, on ARD and MagentaTV) this Monday, but still had the opportunity to to reach the round of 16.

    Nevertheless, there are many football fans who believe that Armin Wolf urgently needs to come up with a few critical questions for Foda.

    On the first weekend of the tournament, Foda had heard the many allegations again in an interview.

    This time he hadn't spoken to Armin Wolf, but to the kicker.

    And although he was responsible for the nation's first European Championship victory shortly before that, he said: "In Austria there is often only black or white."

    It has to do with the names of the players in his squad that Foda can never really shake off the criticism: with David Alaba, Martin Hinteregger, Xaver Schlager, Marcel Sabitzer or Sasa Kalajdzic. And because they and many more are among the regular players in the Bundesliga - in the German, not the domestic - quite a few Austrians are convinced that a so-called golden generation is currently playing in their country. The only problem is: The Austrians don't think that there is currently a golden trainer working in their country.

    During his time with the national team, Foda has often heard that he doesn't let the golden generation shine. The main accusation: his team is not aggressive, not brave. Some even say: boring. "I can't understand this issue," said Foda to the kicker and then introduced an argument that started with listing the passes played by the North Macedonians in their own half (six) and the great chances of the Austrians in the last test match against Slovakia (five) began and ended with the following sentence: “That speaks for an active and courageous style of play.” You really don't have to be Armin Wolf to counter this statement with a critical question.

    The Kickers reporter decided on the following: “Then why the criticism?” Foda's answer: “People think we could switch faster because we have a lot of ex-Red Bull players. But how can that be possible when most of the opponents are very low against us and we have a lot of possession ourselves? ”It would have been interesting to see how this discussion would have continued in Austria, but then Marko Arnautović intervened.

    When the Austrian striker, who has been playing for a club in Shanghai for two years, shot the 3-1 win against North Macedonia, he bullied an opponent so that Alaba closed his mouth with his hand. The captain was late. The European Football Union suspended Arnautović, who apologized, for the game against the Netherlands. On Monday, the Austrians can watch Arnautović play again - and discuss Franco Foda before and after.