STEGERSBACH, Austria, - Coach Josef Hickersberger complained about a lack of discipline and a loss of focus among Austria's players on Wednesday.

Hickersberger had been due to decide between Alexander Manninger and Juergen Macho as first-choice goalkeeper for the Euro 2008 co-hosts but said he would delay his announcement until Saturday because of the other issues surrounding the squad.

'We have delayed the decision because the goalkeeper is the least of our problems,' the 60-year-old coach told a news conference.

'Yesterday it became clear to me the team was no longer as concentrated and alert as before. We have tried to resolve this problem today.'

Hickersberger complained about a lack of punctuality in the squad. v 'We must pull ourselves together ... it was time for me to wake the players up,' he said.

'This is our Euro 2008 and this is a chance for each player to do something for the team.'

Hickersberger's comments came the same day as Austria climbed nine places in FIFA's world rankings, rising from 101st to 92nd on the back of a 5-1 victory over Malta and a 1-1 draw with Nigeria in recent friendlies.

But Austria remain comfortably the worst team at the tournament.

Most bookmakers rate them 100-1 shots to win the trophy while they are 8-1 ON not to get out of Group B which also contains Germany, Croatia and Poland.

'We are the biggest outsiders,' said Hickersberger.

The coach dismissed suggestions it was unfair to keep Manninger and Macho in suspense because of the behaviour of the other players.

'It is often like that in team games. If someone makes a mistake others suffer,' said Hickersberger.

Austria begin their campaign against Croatia in Vienna on Sunday.