Today's Talking Points
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1Austria have had their best decade in football for 50 years — under Ralf Rangnick, who left Manchester United for the national job, they've become a physically intense, well-organised team that caused problems for everyone in European qualifying.
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2Ralf Rangnick is a fascinating manager — the man who invented the high-pressing style now used by Liverpool, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, running the Austrian national team and doing it brilliantly.
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3Marcel Sabitzer is their captain — the Bayern Munich and now Borussia Dortmund midfielder brings energy and technical quality that epitomises the modern Austrian approach under Rangnick.
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4Austria are in Group J with Argentina, Algeria and Jordan — qualifying from this group would be a significant achievement given Argentina's presence, but Austria have beaten better opposition in recent years.
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5Austrian football investment has paid off — the league is more competitive, players are developing better, and Rangnick's demanding style has filtered through to make the national team more rigorous than it's been in decades.
🍺 Top Thing To Say Down The Pub
Austria's manager Ralf Rangnick invented the high-pressing style that Liverpool and Man City now use. He's running a national team with 9 million people and making it look easy.
🚫 Avoid Saying
"Austria are just Germany but worse" — they qualified ahead of Germany for the 2024 Euros and above them in their Nations League group. The 'just Germany but worse' era is genuinely over.