According to the paper form, Austria’s national team will only play a supporting role when it makes its first appearance in Pool A of the Nations League. Against world champion France, vice world champion Croatia and EM semi-finalist Denmark, the ÖFB team is a blatant outsider, anything but last place would be a surprise.
Because friendlies have almost entirely fallen victim to the tight schedule, team boss Ralf Rangnick himself described the Nations League as preparation for the big goal: qualifying for the 2024 European Championships in Germany. The qualifiers for this will be drawn on October 9th.
If the ÖFB team does not solve the final round ticket via the European Championship qualification, the Nations League probably offers a second chance, even if Austria is relegated from Pool A: Three final round participants will be awarded again via the Nations League, the procedure has them UEFA not yet announced. Based on the regulations for the most recent European Championship, the four best non-qualified teams in pools A, B and C play for places in the final round. If, as expected, almost all of the nations in pool A are in the final round via the European Championship qualification, the back door would open for Austria via the Nations League play-off.
Three out of four debuts successful
The ÖFB team can make all arithmetic games obsolete if the final round starting place is fixed in the European Championship qualification. Austria will start against Croatia in Osijek on Friday. A look at the recent team boss debuts gives hope for a good start: three of Ralf Rangnick’s four predecessors won at the premiere. Franco Foda won the friendly against Uruguay on November 14, 2017, interim coach Willi Ruttensteiner managed a 4-1 win in the European Championship qualifier in Azerbaijan on October 7, 2011, and Dietmar Constantini started on April 1, 2009 with a 1-0 win over Romania in the World Cup qualifier. Only Marcel Koller’s six-year era began on November 16, 2011 with a 1-2 draw in Ukraine.
Source: Nachrichten
