ÖFB team captain Ralf Rangnick is upbeat about his team after their 3-2 win over the Netherlands. Nevertheless, he puts the brakes on happiness. A statistic speaks of success in a week.
After a great moment in Austrian football, team boss Ralf Rangnick tried to objectively characterize what happened. His team beat the Netherlands 3-2 to top the world’s toughest European Championship group, so the question of whether they were ready for the title was inevitable. “I don’t think it’s very likely that we’ll become European champions,” Rangnick responded on Tuesday at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.
The ÖFB selection was given secret favorite status by the international media before the tournament even began. Rangnik is still cool. “It will have no impact on our games,” insisted the German. You don’t want to engage in headline speculation, you think from game to game. “Boys are ambitious and want to go as far as possible.”
“No matter what happens now, everyone is a good enemy”
And not just because of the performance against “Oranje”, but further progress seems entirely possible. By winning the group – their first appearance at the finals since the 1978 World Cup – Austria avoided the halfway stage of the group featuring title holders Spain, Germany, Portugal and France. These four teams can only meet in the finals. First up, we’ll face either Turkey, the Czech Republic or Georgia, a Pool F team in Leipzig on Tuesday. “Whatever happens now, everyone is a good enemy. We always have to perform at the highest level anyway,” Rangnik said.
With a performance like this against the Dutch, the men’s team could advance to the quarterfinals of the European Championship for the first time in ÖFB history. “We went into the game brutally and felt like we had 80 percent of the ball in the first 20 minutes,” Rangnick said. A goal to make it 1-1 immediately after the restart was “not particularly lucky”. A mistake by Florian Grillitch started the scoring. “It was an unusual loss of the ball for him,” Rangnick explained.
A last-minute goal by the Italians changed the order
Minutes later, Grillic set up Romano Schmidt to make it 2-1. “I’m glad he got the confidence to play chip ball after that mistake,” the coach said. In general, he was “impressed” with how his team responded to the two-time draw.
Rangnick surprised his line-up as he initially left Christoph Baumgartner and Konrad Leimer on the bench, both threatened with yellow card suspension. Part of the reason for this was the 1-1 draw between Croatia and Italy the previous day – despite a 4-0 defeat against Oranje it was clear they would have gone through. “If the Italians hadn’t scored in the last minute, we would have started with a different team,” Rangnick said.
The national coach decided to make a total of four changes compared to the 3-1 win against Poland, which turned out to be on the side of fortune. “We chose an unexpected lineup. In retrospect, these thoughts are worth it. We were able to go “all in” with this build right from the start.
Wimmer is suspended for the 16th round
Along with Marko Arnautovic, Maximilian Wöber and Patrick Wimmer, Rangnick only ordered three of the seven risk kickers in the starting line-up. Wimmer was the only one to see yellow and should see off in the round of 16. “It was clear to me: if we want to win, we cannot consider yellow cards from the start. If I tell Konrad Leimer not to risk a yellow card, if he backs off, I don’t have to hold him up.” Baumgartner also had a mild knee problem, the team leader said.
The new players who joined the team did their job well. Rangnick: “This game showed us that the breadth of our squad is a bit bigger than everyone thought, myself included, and we were able to win the group ahead of the runner-up world champions, France.” The day before that he would consider the final rank to be “not high”. “I’ll stick to it: anyone who guessed that we’d win against Poland and France wouldn’t – would be a rich man or woman now. The beauty of football is that things like this happen and we were rewarded for our brave and energetic performance.
“It’s incredible to beat the team.”
After the opening match with France, there was nothing to suggest first place. “We started with 0-1 and then there was a lot of pressure before the Poland game. It’s unbelievable that we managed to win the group in the end,” explained Rangnick, who now has a week to prepare his team for the round of 16. “It almost has a Bundesliga character,” Long said. said the soon-to-be 66-year-old about the hiatus.
Travel to Leipzig is by bus. This reduces the risk of unwanted surprises when the flight to Dusseldorf is delayed before the France match. Even Tuesday’s trip from Berlin’s team hotel to the Olympic stadium didn’t go smoothly — a police officer accompanying the bus was hit by a car on his motorcycle, but was not seriously injured.
The upcoming stay in Leipzig is “for some a trip to their old home, for some even to their current home”. Baumgartner and Nicolas Seiwald are currently at RB Leipzig, while the likes of Laimer, Marcel Sabitzer and Rangnick have worked for the Saxons over the years.
Good omen: All previous Tuesday games won
In Leipzig, the emphasis is on the style of play that characterizes the ÖFB team. However, Rangnick says he doesn’t have much use for the term “Red Bull soccer.” “It doesn’t really mean much because we invest a lot of time in what we do with the ball. What we play is more suited to the players and that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.
The fans thanked them with a fervent roar of “I’m from Austria”, and the ÖFB song “Hoch gwimmas (n) imma”, launched a year ago, played a minor role at best. “I still think this song is great because it lets you talk trash and poke fun at itself in an original way. “But when 25,000 or 30,000 people sing ‘I’m from Austria,’ I find it more authentic and fitting for the team,” Rangnick said.
Rangnick sat on the substitutes’ bench as the ÖFB team celebrated with the fans to the sound of Reinhard Fendrich. “I just wanted to rest a little bit,” the coach said. According to special statistics, Rangnick could be ready for the next celebratory party in the round of 16 – under his leadership, the red-white-red have won all six international matches on Tuesday. (APA)
