Red Bull soccer?

Rangnick disagrees: “Doesn’t really make sense”

ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick

(Bild: AFP/APA/Christophe SIMON)

Austria team boss Ralf Rangnick is often accused of implementing the Red Bull school into the national soccer team. The 65-year-old provides counter-arguments ...

Three points, group victory and, for some like team boss Ralf Rangnick, a "home game" in Leipzig - Austria drew the big one with their 3:2 win over the Netherlands: "What impressed me most was our reaction to the equalizing goals," said Rangnick. "We never had our heads down and were rewarded for our courage."

The statistics also spoke in Austria's favor, with Rangnick initially impressed by one fact: "We felt we had 80 percent possession in the first 20 minutes. It doesn't really make sense to talk about Red Bull soccer." Especially as the daily routine under Rangnick is similar: "The boys know how much time we invest in every training session and every video analysis to show what we can do with the ball."

Rewarded for courageous performance
Anyone who had bet on Austria winning the group "would now be a rich man or woman. The nice thing about soccer is that things like this happen, we were rewarded for a courageous and very energetic performance."

Patrick Wimmer saw his second yellow card against the Netherlands in Berlin's Olympiastadion.

(Bild: AP ( via APA) Austria Presse Agentur/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Although Rangnick did not take the final risk and left four of the players with yellow cards on the bench for the time being: "I'm glad that we have everyone available for the round of 16 apart from Wimmer and that we can prepare in a targeted manner until Tuesday. It almost has Bundesliga character now."