Austria secured promotion to League A in the UEFA Nations League on Saturday with a narrow victory over the Republic of Ireland, setting up a fixture against Israel on Tuesday that carries only pride for the visitors, LAOLA1 reported.
Austria secured promotion to League A on the fifth matchday, leaving Tuesday’s match in Debrecen, Hungary, as a final fixture of the autumn campaign where standings no longer hang in the balance for the team.
Head coach Ralf Rangnick announced he will change the lineup for the match in Hungary.
“We will definitely see some other players, perhaps even entirely other players,” Rangnick told ORF.
Rangnick explained his reasoning for the impending switches during his interview with the broadcaster.
“There are some guys I would have brought in today. If not now, when then? It is certainly a wonderful game for other players to show themselves,” Rangnick said.
The Austrian team manager indicated that opportunities will go to squad members who did not feature against Ireland or logged only brief minutes on Saturday.
Ten outfield players began Saturday’s match on the bench: David Affengruber, Michael Svoboda, Felix Bacher, Yanik Spalt, Luca Weinhandl, Sascha Horvath, Yusuf Demir, Raul Florucz, Junior Adamu, and Sasa Kalajdzic.
Goalkeepers Florian Wiegele, Lukas Jungwirth, and Christian Zawieschitzky—who missed out on Saturday’s matchday squad entirely—are also in contention for playing time.
Two members of the Austrian squad will not make the trip to Hungary due to ongoing physical issues.
Alexander Prass and Xaver Schlager are departing from the team camp to receive treatment from their respective club medical staffs for thigh injuries.
Aside from those two departures, no further players are scheduled to leave the group before Tuesday, according to the team setup as of Saturday evening.
“Most of the guys do not even want to go home because they feel comfortable in the group,” Rangnick said.
Despite the anticipated alterations to the starting lineup, the coaching staff maintained that competitive intensity will remain high on Tuesday.
“Just to make that clear: We also want to win the game on Tuesday. We are not just going there to play the game,” Rangnick said.
Worth a look
