2023-10-17 03:12:54
It was a trembling victory with which Austria’s national football team secured their ticket to the European Championships in Germany on Monday in Baku. “Everything can be done at the neighbor’s,” said the celebratory T-shirts that the ÖFB players wore on Monday following the 1-0 win once morest Azerbaijan. However, team boss Ralf Rangnick is aware that the chances of success at the tournament next summer in his home country will depend to a large extent on which players are fit.
“If we have all the players available, we will have a team that has not only qualified, but I also believe that we can really show off in Germany,” explained Rangnick, whose contract has already been fulfilled by reaching the European Championships extended until the end of qualification for the 2026 World Cup. “But when you have to replace as many players as we had to do once more this time, then that has a small impact on the quality.”
Nine kickers who were already in the ÖFB starting eleven this year were missing, and according to Rangnick, Marcel Sabitzer and Christoph Baumgartner did not feel fit enough to play from the start in Baku. Patrick Wimmer was also given a break three days following the 2-3 defeat once morest Belgium. All of this was noticeable in the first 45 minutes. “It was important to be able to bring the three boys to halftime,” said the team boss. “You might tell that we had significantly more control.”
The experiment with Florian Kainz, Romano Schmid and Alexander Prass as left-back had not really worked before that. The team can cope better with failures in some positions, but less well in others, explained Rangnick. “We don’t have the same width in the storm as France, Spain or Belgium.” That’s why success at the European Championships also depends on having as many players as possible – “the core of our team”, as Rangnick puts it – available.
“That’s not meant to diminish the others at all. I was happy that they were all there,” said Rangnick regarding squad additions like Rapid’s Marco Grüll and Matthias Seidl, who will have a hard time jumping on the European Championship bandwagon. “It was an exceptional situation in this course.” It culminated in the fact that Guido Burgstaller, who had reactivated four years following his retirement from the team, had to be sent off with a yellow-red card in the final seconds of his substitute comeback.
At this point the Austrians had already overcome their greatest moment of shock. Belgium would have allowed similarly clear scoring opportunities in its equally difficult 1-0 win in Azerbaijan, recalled Rangnick. “But the fact that it was in the last minute wasn’t good for the nerves.” Because Toral Bayramov placed the ball completely free on the outside bar, Sabitzer remained Austria’s gold goal scorer with his penalty. Like David Alaba and Marko Arnautovic, who are missing due to injury, the Styrian will contest his third European Championship in Germany.
Rangnick emphasized that the saying “everything can be done with a neighbor” hadn’t occurred to him. “For us, I’m more responsible for the music, while the marketing department is responsible for the slogans.” His full focus recently wasn’t on the tournament, but rather on a victory in Azerbaijan. “We struggled to win the game,” admitted the 65-year-old. “I think Azerbaijan has a very good team.” In general, qualifying group F with Belgium, Sweden, the Azeris and Estonia was “certainly one of the most difficult”.
“Qualifying for the European Championships on the penultimate matchday is anything but a given – especially when you consider how many players we had to select,” emphasized Rangnick. “It’s been an extraordinary performance from the boys in the last few weeks and months.” The qualification for the ÖFB team will be completed on November 16th in Estonia. Five days later there will be a test match duel with European Championship hosts Germany in Vienna to end the year.
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