"No senior dance"

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Ralf Rangnick wants to bring the team's identity back to the fore.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Austria's national soccer team will in all likelihood have a lot of possession in their Nations League home match against Kazakhstan on Thursday (20:45). This form of play is not the ÖFB team's greatest strength - nor does it need to be if team boss Ralf Rangnick has his way. Instead, the German called for a return to what defines the team's identity ahead of this week's international double in Linz: high intensity.

"We'll do the devil and now primarily think about how we can improve in our own possession," Rangnick emphasized. This always has something to do with the quality of the individual players. "Even when we beat Germany, Italy or Holland, we didn't excel with our masterstrokes or Harlem Globetrotter soccer, but by repeatedly forcing the opposition into mistakes and having our situations in the transitional movements."

In fact, the Austrians did indeed give the Germans and Italians a run for their money in test matches in Vienna in the last two years (2:0 in each case). The Dutch defeated them 3-2 in the final European Championship group game in Berlin in June. Since then, Rangnick's team have gone three games without a win. After the European Championship exit in the round of 16 against Turkey (1:2), there were further setbacks in the Nations League games against Slovenia (1:1) and Norway (1:2) in September.

"Don't want a senior dance"
Kazakhstan are number 109 in the FIFA world rankings, while Austria are number 22. "If we now think we're much better against this or that opponent and simply have to put them to rights, they haven't understood how we got to where we are," said Rangnick. "They were all scared to play against us and sometimes changed their own basic formation." Bringing the energy against the ball onto the pitch is crucial, only then can you talk about your own ball possession again.

"Our style of soccer is different. We need a few different things again," said Rangnick, who gathered his players in Windischgarsten on Monday after a month of club soccer. "In two days of training, we have to get the boys back into the mindset of heavy metal rock 'n' roll and not the slow waltz," explained the 66-year-old. "You can do the slow waltz in senior dancing, but we don't want to be senior dancers - not even me, although I'm almost one."

Stöger an option again
Full-back Phillipp Mwene is suspended against the Kazakhs and will only be able to play against Norway on Sunday (8.45pm). Marcel Sabitzer, Konrad Laimer and Alexander Prass are another trio who will serve a suspension when they receive their next cautions. One month after his team debut, Kevin Stöger is once again an option as a substitute - even if he has to play possession soccer, which Rangnick dislikes, at his club Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Kevin Stöger is an option again

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

"We know that Kevin is a really good footballer," said Rangnick. He compared the 31-year-old to the recently injured European Championship reserve Florian Kainz. "Technically adept, with good set-pieces, a good left foot and a good eye." However, the mandatory victory against Kazakhstan should not only be secured by playful means. Rangnick: "We have to keep up the pressure, keep the pressure on."