World Cup play-offs: Austria's Daniel Bachmann aims to shatter Wales' dreams

Daniel Bachmann will look to shatter the World Cup dreams of the country which helped launch his career in Thursday's World Cup play-off semi final.

For the Austria goalkeeper will always have a soft spot for Wrexham - and it's nothing to do with Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

Watford stopper Bachmann had a loan spell at the Racecourse seven years ago and said: "I still follow them, I check their scores all the time.

"I want them to get promoted because I had a great time and it was my first step in men's football in England.

"It was a good group of players, I really enjoyed it, the fans as well."

Bachmann's first tentative steps in senior domestic football was his Wrexham debut on loan from Stoke City in a 2-1 Football Conference victory win at Dartford in August 2014. A crowd of 1561 watched the encounter.

A full house of more than 30,000 people will pack into Cardiff City Stadium to watch Wales and Austria compete for the right to face either Scotland or Ukraine for a place in Qatar in November.

Bachmann, who joined Watford in 2017, admitted: "It's not going to be an easy game for sure, especially being in Wales with the atmosphere the fans are going to create, it will certainly be a tough test.

"But people in Austria are very positive with the draw. We have avoided the big hitters like Italy and Portugal while Poland are a big team as well."

Austria finished fourth in their qualifying section, 11 points behind Group F winners Denmark and seven adrift of second-place Scotland.

But they always had the insurance policy of having topped their 2019 Nations League section, like Wales, virtually guaranteeing a place in the play-offs.

"We knew through the Nations League there was a 99.9% chance of making the play-offs," he said.

"I don't know whether that played a part mentally. We knew that, it did not go to plan. But we have to just put it right now and make sure we qualify for Qatar."

Austria finished third in the World Cup in 1954 and last qualified for the finals in 1998.

They include a clutch of experienced players including David Alaba, who has joined Gareth Bale at Real Madrid from Bayern Munich this season, as well as former West Ham United striker Marco Arnautovic, currently at Serie A club Bologna.

Arnautovic ranks third in both the Austrian list of all time appearances and scorers with 32 goals in 96 caps. Indeed he netted both goals against Wales in the 2-2 World Cup qualifying draw in Vienna, in 2016.

Bachmann said: "He is a good guy to have around the team and on the pitch you know how dangerous he can be. He has changed his style of play a bit over the years, the move to China has played a part in that.

"But he is still as dangerous as he always was, just in a bit of a manner and a different style. You give him the ball in tight spaces and you know there is a good chance of him getting out and getting a shot off or a final pass. He can cause a lot of problems."

Bachmann, 27, has happy memories of his last visit to Cardiff City Stadium. A year ago he helped Watford seal a 2-1 win during a late Championship surge which ended in promotion to the top flight.

Since then, he has made his Premier League debut for the Hornets and experienced a daunting national team debut against England in a 1-0 defeat at Wembley in the build-up to the delayed Euro 2020 finals.

As Bachmann established himself as his country's number one, Austria eventually bowed out in the round of 16, to tournament winners Italy.

Their 2-1 victory over Ukraine in Bucharest in their final group game at the Euros was an illustration of what Austria coach Franco Foda calls a big game mentality within the squad.

"The game was the perfect example, we knew we had to deliver," said Bachmann.

"They had a lot more fans there than we did with Ukraine being closer to where the game was played and the travel restrictions in Austria.

"It was a really tough game but every single player performed how you expected and how you dreamed of the night before. So we know we can do that."

So how do Austria beat Wales? Bachman, looking to win his 13th cap in Cardiff, smiled: "Well we have to make sure we don't concede and score a goal!

"The crowd is going to play a part and we need to make sure we don't get fazed by that.

"With the experience we have it won't faze most of us, so we need to make sure the young lads are all right because even though most of the young lads will have played at the Euros, it is slightly different.

"It going to be very tricky with the atmosphere, we just have to make sure we deal with that, stay solid, stay patient. We will get a lot of chances, we always create chances regardless of who we play against.

"We just have to make sure we limit theirs."

Bachmann hopes twice Champions League winner Alaba can keep clubmate Bale and Daniel James "in his pocket" to help fulfil his own World Cup ambitions.

"There is nothing bigger than to play for your country in the World Cup, it's as simple as that. I want to achieve that and I don't want it to be my last one."

For that to happen, Bachmann will have to frustrate the Wales national team, while wishing nothing but good fortune on Wrexham, which helped launch him on this journey.

The significance of what is happening at the Racecourse courtesy of Reynolds and McElhenney is not lost on Bachmann.

"It's great to see a club like Wrexham get the backing from someone that famous. It just puts it on the map all over the world," he said.

"Wrexham has the oldest international stadium in the world, if I am not wrong, and is one of the oldest football clubs in the world, so obviously they have their own bragging rights anyway.

"Now with an owner like Ryan Reynolds it's certainly exciting times for the club and the fans. I hope they will be back in the League if possible next season, that would be great."

Bachmann is hoping it is Wrexham rather than Wales which provides the only Hollywood happy ending for Welsh football this season.