After such a long season and before the fourth international match within eleven days, who is fresh enough to go over the pain threshold again?
That is the main question ahead of today’s season finale for the Austrian national football team in Copenhagen against Denmark (8.45 p.m., ORF one live). And of course she also employs ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick, who will only reveal his line-up to his players today, although it was already yesterday to Copenhagen. The team landed in Copenhagen in the early evening. There was no final training yesterday either in Vienna or in Denmark.
An unusual process, which is due to the tight schedule. Rangnick: “I’ve never experienced anything like this myself. Four international matches within eleven days – you don’t even get that at a World Cup or European Championship. That’s why I decided it made no sense to train again. We need the strength and the grain for the match. Even as a club coach, I’ve played games without real final training and I’ve actually always done well with it.”
The 1-1 draw against world champions France demanded everything from the players. Stefan Posch and Maximilian Wöber are injured – and have therefore already left the team camp.
Alaba accompanies the team
Captain David Alaba accompanies the team, although he cannot play himself due to injury. Rangnick: “I left that open to him. From my point of view it would be absolutely fine if he just wanted to spend time with his family after such a long season including the Champions League final with Real Madrid against Liverpool. But it also shows that what character David has and what spirit prevails within the team.”
The biggest bottleneck is in the central defense. With Gernot Trauner, Kevin Danso and Marco Friedl, Rangnick still has three potential options.
Heinz Lindner gets a second game in goal after Patrick Pentz was in top form against Denmark and especially against France. Rangnick: “Since both have played so well in the previous three games, I also wanted to give Heinz Lindner a second match. I would also have liked to see Martin Fraisl if there had been another game. So there was no reason, bring a third player to the goalkeeper position.”
Rangnick’s warning
Rangnick criticized both the 1-1 draw against France and the 2-1 draw against Denmark in the first leg in Vienna. Good performance alone is not a cushion. “We could have won the game against Denmark. If not, then you have to at least get through the 1-1 draw. We should have stopped the attack three times before the nice goal to make it 2-1. That also has to do with the basics. That mustn’t happen again.”
Christopher Trimmel, who also showed up in the national team after a top season at Union Berlin, is looking forward to the game in Copenhagen. “We saw in the home game against Denmark that there was only a little missing – and there is a chance. We have to become more efficient and eliminate the mistakes.”
Source: Nachrichten
