Portsmouth keeper Nicolas Schmid dealt blow that could damage chances of playing in World Cup
Pompey No1 Nicolas Schmid has been left out of Ralf Ragnick latest Austria squad for their latest World Cup qualifiers
Nicolas Schmid will be spending the forthcoming international break at home with Pompey.
That’s after the Blues No1 was overlooked by Austria national team manager Ralf Rangnick for his side’s latest World Cup qualifying games.
Austria take on Cyprus and Bosnia and Herzegovina in Group H next month as they look to build on the perfect start they registered in June thanks to wins against Romania and San Marino respectively.
Schmid’s impressive debut season for Pompey - following his 400,000 euros move from BW Linz last summer - saw him called up to his national side for the very first time for that double header.
He was one of four keepers named in Rangnick’s 27-man squad. And although he didn’t feature in either win, it represented a well-deserved opportunity to show his national set-up his ability at close quarters.
The 28-year-old has since picked up where he left off last season at Fratton Park with important contributions as John Mousinho’s side sit 11th in the Championship table after three games.
Yet his form hasn’t been recognised by the former Manchester United manager on this occasion, with Red Bull Salzburg’s Alexander Schlager returning to the international fold following injury at the end of last season.
Brondby keeper Patrick Pentz retains his place in the squad, as does Genk stopper Tobias Lawal - who is yet to record a clean sheet in this season’s Belgian top flight.
As well as Schmid, whose clean sheet helped Pompey beat Oxford on the opening day of the season, Nikolas Polster is the other keeper to be overlooked.
Nicolas Schmid recognised as one of the best keepers in the Championship
Despite the obvious disappointment his omission may cause, Blues goalkeeping coach Joe Prodomo is convinced Schmid has already established himself as one of the Championship’s finest keepers.
He told The News earlier this month: ‘I genuinely think Nico is one of the best goalkeepers in the league - and his performances and the data will back that up.
‘He was one of the best-performing goalkeepers in the division last year, pretty much faultless when he came into the team last year.
‘Since he came in against Oxford, he went from strength to strength. I cannot overstate how important I think he was for the team, especially at the back end of the season when you think of the importance of the Leeds performance, the save in the Watford game.
‘He had some big moments, with others such as the Coventry game when Norman Bassette ran through with a one-v-one and could have made it 2-0, that was a massive stop.
‘Obviously we had a lot of confidence in Nico’s ability, otherwise we wouldn’t have looked to bring him in. We always felt he was a goalkeeper who could become really important to us.
‘But for the opportunity to come so quickly - eight games in - was probably a surprise in the first place because Will 9Norris) was in possession of the shirt.
‘So for someone with all those factors to come into a new country - probably in the top-eight leagues in Europe - and be such an important player as quickly, he did exceed our expectations.
‘Everyone can see the massive role he played in us achieving what we wanted to do and he’s such a good character, has a really good sense of humour, is great with other goalies and is great around the ground.
‘Nico is everything you would want your number one goalkeeper to be in terms of how he treats people, how he goes about his work and, the other important bit, is being a really good performer.
‘We had immense confidence in what he could offer - and he definitely surpassed that.’