Austria vs Ireland - Baumgartlinger: Don't write off Austria in battle for World Cup places

Austria captain Julian Baumgartlinger has warned Group D rivals not to write off their hopes of World Cup qualification.

The Austrians entertain the Republic of Ireland in Vienna on Saturday evening trailing both Martin O'Neill's men and leaders Serbia by three points after taking just one from their double-header against Wales and the Serbs last month.

However, Baumgartlinger remains confident that a side which dropped only two points on their way to qualification for Euro 2016, where they managed just a single draw and fell at the first hurdle, can make an impression once again.

The Bayer Leverkusen midfielder said: "To me personally, it's a different situation now, you cannot compare the two qualification rounds. After the European qualification round, everyone speculated that we were going to be really successful at the Euros.

"Even there, every game was really close, so you can see that it can go either way.

"We know how hard it is and what we have to work on. We have to stop conceding goals and we have to improve the situation on the pitch and create good attacking situations.

"We have to think positively and we know we can come back. We won, we drew and then we lost a game, but we still think it is going to be a good, positive qualification round for us. The Euros are in the past, they are not important any more."

Republic of Ireland boss Martin O'Neill wants to put the spat with Everton manager Ronald Koeman over midfielder James McCarthy behind him ahead of Saturday's clash.

The two men have been at loggerheads over O'Neill's decision to start McCarthy in both qualifiers against Georgia and Moldova last month despite the fact that he had just returned from groin surgery.

Matters were not helped this time around when he named McCarthy in his provisional squad as he fought his way back from a hamstring injury which ultimately meant he did not join up.

Asked if there was a danger of players being caught up in the wrangle, O'Neill, who was sitting alongside Republic skipper and Everton full-back Seamus Coleman, said: "Seamus is not caught up in the middle of it, he's here and he wants to play.

"It was a continuation [of the row] at the time, but I seriously think it's over now as far as we're concerned. Just let us move on.

'I put James into a provisional squad because he thought that he might get through. It was always the probability that he wouldn't make it. And because it's a hamstring, I wouldn't really want to risk him.

'But the other time that he played before, he had recovered from the injury and the point was made that he was in Everton's squad a few days later.

'As far as I'm concerned, it's all over and I'm hoping that James is available again come March time.

'I don't think players get caught in that trap at all and I don't think it would be right for them to be caught between their club and country."