Austria’s national football team goes into the summer break with a 2-0 (2-0) defeat in Copenhagen against Denmark. After four of the six group games in League A of the UEFA Nations League, Ralf Rangnick’s red-white-red selection is third in the table with four points.
The gap to leaders Denmark, who has the best chance of reaching the Final-4, is five points. The balance on the relegation zone occupied by reigning world champions France is two points.
A preliminary decision in the group will be made on September 22 at the guest appearance in France. If the red-white-red team wins, staying up in the league and another Nations League season with well-known opponents would be guaranteed.
There could be squad changes in a good three months. “We were missing three players this time in Florian Grillitsch, Martin Hinteregger and Philipp Lienhart. We will nominate based on the form and the knowledge we have gained in the past two weeks,” said ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick, who drew a mostly positive interim conclusion.
But Rangnick wouldn’t be Rangnick if he didn’t find hair in the soup. The results – 3-0 in Croatia, 1-2 and 0-2 against Denmark, 1-1 against France – did not arouse enthusiasm in the 63-year-old.
“Tactically the weaker team for the first time”
“We could easily have had two or three more points. If you’re not at 100 percent, then you’re in trouble. The Danes showed us that. It could have gone 4-1 or 5-1,” admitted Rangnick.
“We were the weaker team tactically for the first time today. So it was the logical consequence that we lost the game. We weren’t brave enough to defend against the Danes’ 3-4-3. We were always a step too late. If we want to win games as a team that is maybe a bit weaker individually and in terms of personnel, we have to be tactically better. That wasn’t the case today. The Danes have always made up for it with their diagonal shifts.”
But enough of the criticism. “I gained a lot of positive insights. You saw what is possible with this team when they implement the match plan. That’s why I’m confident for the remaining games, but especially for qualifying for the European Championship,” emphasized Rangnick.
“That’s a little bit too little of us”
The former LASK captain Gernot Trauner, who collected many bonus points in the national team, struggled with the course of the game in the almost sold-out Parken Stadium.
“We run into a counterattack twice, that’s a bit too little of us. We had one or two chances after the break, but unfortunately it didn’t work out. Despite that, everyone gave it their all, the second half was pretty good,” analyzed the Feyenoord legionnaire.
“Permanent favorite” Xaver Schlager, who was in the starting XI in each of the four matches, was very dissatisfied. “The Danes were clearly better than us. It was a game to learn a lot from. The Danes won as the better team, a week ago in Vienna we were the better team and lost. Denmark took extreme risks this time and won the duels. They pressed aggressively at times, brought physicality into play and scored the goals. We were always behind,” explained the midfielder from St. Valentin.
“We’ll attack again in September”
Marcel Sabitzer, who captained the ÖFB team in his 64th country match, also did not spare himself with self-criticism. “We noticed early on that we weren’t getting much access. We didn’t do well when conceding goals. We have to acknowledge that the Danes did better. We were not at the performance limit. The Danes got into a flow, we didn’t do it so well that we could have given them a headache.” Postscript: “We’ll attack again in September.”
Danish full-back Rasmus Kristensen, who is leaving FC Salzburg for the Premier League (Leeds United), was delighted with the successful rehabilitation after the 0-1 home defeat against Croatia.
“It was a great evening for us, we deserved to win. We were a bit better prepared for the Austrians than we were a week ago in Vienna. In four games in eleven days it’s all about duels and power, we were strong there. With the mood from the ranks came this extra energy, which we also needed.” End of the announcement.
Source: Nachrichten
