“No wildcards awarded”: Rangnick reveals ÖFB squad backgrounds

… the call-up of the injured David Alaba and Maximilian Wöber David is our captain. When he was fit, Maxi almost always played with us and enriched the group. Both are highly unlikely to feature against Ghana or South Korea. Still, I want her there. We will ensure that they continue to progress the rehab process during these ten days. But we certainly won’t be handing out wild cards at the World Cup and saying: “He’ll get better at some point.” I’m still excluding David Alaba, who I sincerely hope will be available to us as a player at the World Cup.

… the decision of Paul Wanner and Carney Chukwuemeka to play for Austria We never put any pressure on her, but we did let her feel at all times that we would like to have her with us. This strategy paid off. If you consider how old they are and what market value they have, then you could say, if we weren’t an association but a club, that these two aren’t that bad transfers. Looking over the next ten or twelve years, I am convinced that both will be extremely helpful to Austria.

… the positions of the two They are most likely to be considered for the ten position, of which we have three in our 4-2-3-1. Wanner recently played in the double six at Eindhoven. We’ll see if he can do it at the level we need. The competition isn’t getting any smaller, but it’s stimulating business. The same applies to the World Cup: Of course I make the decisions subjectively, but in the end the players nominate themselves based on their performance.

… the integration of Chukwuemeka, who does not speak German My English skills are also quite okay after studying English. Because the players all speak English and at clubs, such as Bayern, the dressing room language is often English, this is not a problem. But I told Carney that it wouldn’t be completely wrong if he at least learned the football terms in German in the next few weeks. Nobody at Dortmund would have anything against that.

… the return of Sasa Kalajdzic I was always in touch with him, it seemed like we spoke on the phone once a month, and he also asked me for my opinion before he moved to LASK. For him, the main thing was to get completely fit and play regularly. We now want to see him at our level, which places a few more demands on him in terms of playing style. And then it’s up to him.

… the return of Michael Svoboda and the first call-up of David Affengruber Svoboda convinced us even before his serious injury. Now he is captain of Venezia, they are top of the table, are on a run and he is really convincing us again with his style of play. With Affengruber, we watched his games at Elche very closely. Now we want to see him with us, which is still no indication that he will be at the World Cup.

… the first call-up of the 2.05 meter tall goalkeeper Florian Wiegele from Viktoria Pilsen In addition to Schlager and Pentz, it’s about who will be the third World Cup goalkeeper. Wiegele, who has only attracted attention in the last few months, has a completely different profile, just in terms of his physique. He has requirements that no one else has with us. I find it exciting.

… the World Cup quarters in Santa Barbara I am very glad. This is the best we could get in every way. I’m not really concerned with luxury, but it’s a dream when you’re on the Pacific and have direct access to the sea. By American standards you have extremely short distances and fast processing options. It’s ten to 15 minutes from the hotel to the training stadium or to the airport, which is small and cute, similar to the one in Innsbruck or Klagenfurt.

… his possible contract extension I have agreed with Sepp Pröll and Bernhard Neuhold that we will not submit any water level reports. I don’t see any excessive time pressure either.