Chukwuemeka dealt a reality check on first Austria start
Borussia Dortmund star Carney Chukwuemeka made his first start for Austria on Thursday, but lasted only 45 minutes into it. After a pair of explosive cameo appearances off the bench against Israel and Kosovo, Ralf Rangnick thought it's time to finally hand the midfielder a place in the starting berth.
But, it took only the opening half of their 2-2 draw with Ireland this week to figure out that he's still got plenty to learn.
Chukwuemeka's first international start ends with a whimper
In all eight appearances for Das Team this year, Chukwuemeka had come off the bench. But on his ninth cap, the 22-year-old finally broke into the starting XI as he'd shown enough quality to warrant a place there.
However, much to everyone's surprise, he struggled to replicate the same influence that the BVB player has had lately while coming off the bench. In fact, in Austria's previous match against Kosovo, Chukwuemeka even scored his second international goal.
Against a well-drilled Irish side though, the former Chelsea midfielder didn't enjoy the kind of space and time on the ball he did in their last two games. His touches rarely turned into attacking moves while also coming up second-best in his duels.
In the 14th minute, Chukwuemeka was presented with perhaps his best chance of the match when Romano Schmid created an opening for him, but he failed to get a shot away and the opportunity was lost.
To his credit, the Austrian international misplaced only two of his 20 passes in the opening half, while 15 of those 18 came in Ireland's area, telling you how heavily he was involved in the build-up. But the cutting edge was missing today as Chukwuemeka, along with the rest of the Das Team, were below their best in the first 45 minutes.
A valuable learning curve for Chukwuemeka
Trailing 2-0 at the break, Rangnick made a few changes to his lineup which included Chukwuemeka going off as Austria were more energetic, menacing and purposeful and found their way back into the two with goals from Alexander Prass and Michael Gregoritsch.
As for Chukwuemeka, the first start of his international career didn't go as planned but the match was a useful leaning experience nonetheless. Against Kosovo and Israel, his pace and directness were key to adding a bite to Austria's offensive vanguard, but a stoic Ireland side posed a different challenge altogether.
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