Compared to the qualifying games in June (1-1 in Belgium and 2-0 at home against Sweden), the injured Flavius Daniliuc (Salernitana) and Junior Adamu (SC Freiburg) are absent this time. Goalkeeper Patrick Pentz (Brondby IF), Manprit Sarkaria (Sturm Graz) and Romano Schmid (Werder Bremen) are also not part of the 25-man squad. Otherwise, Rangnick relies on proven forces around Real Madrid star David Alaba, Marko Arnautovic, who has switched to Inter Milan, and Marcel Sabitzer, who is now Dortmund.
No one was called up “who either came from a long injury or had very little or no time at all,” Rangnick clarified. After a conversation, he therefore refrained from bringing back Wolverhampton striker Sasa Kalajdzic. The 26-year-old has only played a few minutes in the Premier League after his break due to a cruciate ligament tear. Feyenoord defender Gernot Trauner, on the other hand, “still has a bit of a problem after a lot of pressure”.
Querfeld and Seidl with strong development
Trauner’s problems have cleared the way for Querfeld. The central defender, who has gone through several youth teams at Rapid, has recently shown strong performances in the Bundesliga and in the European Cup. The 19-year-old, who is a U21 team player, has already been on call for the senior team. The 22-year-old Seidl has only been with Rapid since July, before that he played in the second division for BW Linz. Within a short period of time, the man from Salzburg has established himself as a regular in attacking midfield with the Greens and Whites. He too was already on call.
IMAGO/Pixsell Leopold Querfeld is used to wearing the ÖFB dress from the U21s
“I have known Leo Querfeld since the perspective course in Pula. He’s played a lot since then and has become a regular, maybe even a leader. He looks much more mature and older. He’s extremely strong in the air and has improved in opening the game,” Rangnick said of the central defender.
Rangnick sees a similar development at Seidl as at club colleagues Querfeld. “Moving to Rapid was the right step for him. He has not only developed into a regular player, but also into a player who scores and prepares goals,” said the team boss. With goalkeeper Niklas Held there is a third player from Vienna in the squad. Together with RB Leipzig – Christoph Baumgartner, Xaver Schlager and Nicolas Seiwald – Rapid has the largest contingent of team players.
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UEFA Euro 2024 qualification
Schlager against Sweden fixed in goal
Austria are in first place in UEFA qualifying group F after four games played, level on points with Belgium and Sweden in third place. “Obviously it will be a different situation due to the fact that it’s an away game now. Yes, we already have ten points – that’s good,” said Rangnick.
The team boss made it clear that Alexander Schlager will be in goal against Sweden. It is not yet clear who will guard the box against Moldova. “We’ll look at the boys again in the three training sessions when they arrive on Monday (in Windischgarsten/ed.),” said Rangnick.
In the second half of the qualification, away games predominate for the ÖFB squad. At home, the team only plays once more, on October 13th the hit against Belgium takes place in Vienna. “You don’t just fly over to games in Tallinn or Baku and just get three points there,” Rangnick clarified.
ÖFB squad for test match and European Championship qualification
Tor: Daniel Bachmann (Watford/13 internationals), Niklas Hedl (Rapid/1), Alexander Schlager (Red Bull Salzburg/9)
Defense: David Alaba (Real Madrid/101/15 goals), Kevin Danso (Lens/13/0), Philipp Lienhart (Freiburg/13/0), Phillipp Mwene (Mainz/7/0), Stefan Posch (Bologna/24/1 ), Leopold Querfeld (Rapid/0), David Schnegg (Sturm Graz/0), Maximilian Wöber (Borussia Mönchengladbach/16/0)
Midfield: Christoph Baumgartner (RB Leipzig/29/10), Muhammed Cham (Clermont Foot/1), Florian Grillitsch (Hoffenheim/36/1), Florian Kainz (1. FC Cologne/24/1), Konrad Laimer (Bayern Munich/26 /2), Dejan Ljubicic (1. FC Cologne/8/1), Marcel Sabitzer (Borussia Dortmund/71/14), Xaver Schlager (RB Leipzig/35/3), Matthias Seidl (Rapid/0), Nicolas Seiwald ( RB Leipzig/14/0), Patrick Wimmer (Wolfsburg/5/0)
Attack: Marko Arnautovic (Inter Milan/108/34), Michael Gregoritsch (Freiburg/47/10), Karim Onisiwo (Mainz/22/1)
On call: Tobias Lawal (LASK/0), Patrick Pentz (Brondby IF/4) – Jonas Auer (Rapid/0), Samson Baidoo (Red Bull Salzburg/0), Marco Friedl (Werder Bremen/5) – Marco Grüll (Rapid/4 ), Mathias Honsak (Darmstadt/0), Alexander Prass (Sturm Graz/1/0), Manprit Sarkaria (Sturm Graz/0), Romano Schmid (Werder Bremen/4/0), Kevin Stöger (Bochum/0) – Muharem Huskovic (Austria Vienna/0)
