2023-10-02 17:26:17
Austria’s football team boss Ralf Rangnick has major personnel concerns ahead of the European Championship qualifying games on October 13th in Vienna against Belgium and on October 16th in Baku against Azerbaijan. David Alaba, Marcel Sabitzer, Michael Gregoritsch and Stefan Posch are in the 28-man squad nominated on Monday, but are extremely questionable. Christoph Baumgartner and Kevin Danso, who were recently injured, are not yet at 100 percent, the coach added.
The injured Marko Arnautovic, Phillipp Mwene and Karim Onisiwo will definitely be missing. Salzburg central defender Samson Baidoo was called up for the first time, and Sasa Kalajdzic is also making his ÖFB comeback after an absence of over a year. Also back after a break are Patrick Pentz, Gernot Trauner, Flavius Daniliuc, Marco Grüll, Alexander Prass, Romano Schmid and Manprit Sarkaria.
Rangnick said he didn’t want to pick up his phone in the past few days because there were so many injury reports coming in. “New bad news came in every day,” said the German. Practically all those who are affected suffer from muscle problems. “It’s unusual at such an early stage when you assume most of them are available. But it feels like we’re at the end of a season.”
The national coach announced that he would only use kickers who are 100 percent fit. “We definitely won’t take any chances.” Rangnick sees the best chance of playing with Sabitzer – the chances are worse with Alaba, Gregoritsch and Posch. Alaba only told him three days ago that he felt pain even when he walked. “We have to assume that in the worst case all four won’t be able to play,” explained the 65-year-old.
Should this scenario occur, six kickers from the starting lineup from the 3-1 win in Sweden would not be available. “We will still try to bring a really good team onto the field and put up a good fight,” promised Rangnick. Arnautovic’s muscle injury is so serious that he could also miss the November games. “This is a bitter setback for us,” said Rangnick about the absence of the ÖFB record team player.
Kalajdzic was also included in the squad due to the Arnautovic injury. “If we didn’t have any injuries, he probably wouldn’t have been there. He doesn’t have too many meters under his belt yet. If he did, he’ll only be considered for a short mission,” said Rangnick.
A problem area is opening up in the center of attack – just like with the full-backs. “There must be out-of-the-box solutions,” speculated Rangnick. Candidates for the role on the right in the back four could be Konrad Laimer, Baidoo or Patrick Wimmer (Rangnick: “He played that five times at Austria”), Alexander Prass is conceivable as a left-back, according to the team boss.
It’s not just the long injury list that’s causing trouble for Rangnick at the moment – on Monday he inspected the training pitches at the Happel Stadium, where his team is due to train in a week, and was somewhat dismayed. “In June they were in top condition, and now golf course-like lawns have turned into meadows. Apparently no one cared that the senior national team had an important game.” At the moment he only sees the alternative of training on the lawn of the Happel Stadium.
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