Alexander Manninger has got the No. 1 on his jersey, but it's not certain he will be Austria's No. 1 goalkeeper at the European Championship.
Siena's Manninger is still in competition with AEK Athens' Juergen Macho, who has No. 23 on his jersey.
Less than a week before Austria's opening match against Croatia on Sunday, coach Josef Hickersberger still won't reveal his first choice.
"I have a team in mind which could play against Croatia," Hickersberger said Monday. "But I want to wait and see how this week's training sessions go before I'll say anything about it."
The Austrian squad arrived at the team's base in Stegersbach — a thermal resort about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the capital Vienna — on Monday morning and were to complete a training session later that day.
Hickersberger also considered Rapid Vienna's Helge Payer to be on a par with Manninger and Macho. Since early 2007, they were rotated in Austria's team, but last week Payer was hospitalized with partly closed veins in the intestinal and liver area and will be sidelined for six months.
Payer was replaced by rookie Ramazan Oezcan of German club Hoffenheim, who is expected to be Hickersberger's third choice at Euro 2008.
"There will be a definite No. 1 at the start of the tournament — I won't rotate," Hickersberger said. "I will decide in the course of this week. So, it still looks good for both Juergen Macho and Alexander Manninger."
Manninger, who turns 31 on Wednesday, has played 26 matches for Austria and conceded 33 goals. Macho, who is two months younger, has made 14 appearances and given up 12 goals.
They both played one match last week — Macho against Nigeria (1-1) and Manninger against Malta (5-1).
"They both have an equal chance, they did really well in their last couple of games and didn't make any errors against Nigeria or Malta," said goalkeeping coach Klaus Lindenberger, who played for Austria at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
"I don't see any disadvantages in choosing your No. 1 'keeper so shortly before the tournament. We decided to rotate up to and including our final test match, so we did that."
Macho, who was sidelined for several weeks after receiving a concussion while playing against England last November, wouldn't speculate about the outcome of his duel with Manninger.
"I want to be our No. 1 'keeper, but I am not putting pressure on me and I will act like I always do," Macho said last week.
Manninger was equally circumspect.
"It's up to the training staff to decide. We both did what we can do, so now we have to wait," Manninger said Friday after the victory over Malta, only Austria's second win in its last 16 matches.
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I personally think manninger is the better keeper.
I hope he gets the nod ahead of Macho aslo as he is also more entertaining to watch......
UEFA 'B' Licence Goalkeeper Coach