Nicolas Schmid will be gutted with announcement made away from Portsmouth
John Mousinho’s Portsmouth have enjoyed a solid start to their second season in the Championship.
Portsmouth earned a valuable draw against West Brom at The Hawthorns last time out, putting them on four points after their opening three matches.
All four of John Mousinho’s sides’ points have come on the road so far, which is a surprise given their dreadful away form last season.
If the Blues can make Fratton Park a fortress as they did last season and couple it with this new away form, then Pompey will be a real force this season.
Nicolas Schmid to be gutted after international snub
Schmid, 28, has unsurprisingly played every minute of Pompey’s Championship campaign so far, with the shot-stopper being phenomenal since moving to the south coast club last summer.
Schmid was especially impressive in Portsmouth versus Oxford when the south coast side secured an opening day victory at the Kassam Stadium.
- Schmid made four saves, with three of those saves coming from inside the box
- The Austrian prevented 1.78 goals as he remarkably kept a clean sheet in the 1-0 win
- The ‘keeper also managed two successful run-outs
However, this form was not enough to earn Schmid another call-up to the Austrian national team squad that will take on Cyprus and Bosnia and Herzegovina in September’s international break.
Schmid was called up to Austria’s squad for their games back in June, but was not afforded that same luxury this time around.
This is a massive blow for Schmid’s hopes of featuring in Ralf Ragnick’s World Cup squad next summer, with Portsmouth’s shot-stopper running out of time to prove he should be on the plane as part of the team.
Nicolas Schmid snub could help Portsmouth
With Schmid having a point to prove with the World Cup on the horizon, this could drive him on to perform even better for Pompey this season.
Seeing teammates like Adrian Segecic jet off to represent his nation could ignite the fire in his belly that Schmid needs in order to take him to the next level.
Alternatively, it could backfire, with the goalkeeper trying too hard and placing more pressure than necessary upon his own shoulders.
The Fratton Park faithful will hope it will spur Schmid on as Pompey aim to secure a mid-table finish.
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