It is pretty certain that apart from Julian Nagelsmann, two other German coaches, Ralf Rangnick and Domenico Tedesco, will be at EURO 2024. In the direct duel between Austria and Belgium on Friday (October 13th, 2023, 8:45 p.m., live ticker at sportschau.de), both now have their first match point.
After five games in qualifying group F, the situation couldn’t be more balanced. Both the Austrians with Rangnick and the Belgians with Tedesco have won four times and ended their first meeting 1-1. So there are 13 points each, the Swedes, who were previously classified as major competitors, are almost out of the race in third place with only six points. However, only the winner on Friday will qualify early for Germany 2024.
It is difficult to answer who will be the favorite in the game at the Ernst Happel Stadium. A look at the statistics is surprising: of 15 duels since 1925, Belgium has only won two, Austria has won nine, but that doesn’t have to mean anything for Friday. Despite their excellent qualifications so far, both Rangnick and Tedesco have acute problems – and both have already overcome a number of hurdles.
Enthusiasm was limited
This started with her introduction. Neither Rangnick nor Tedesco were said to have been the first choice of the national associations, nor did their names trigger unfounded storms of enthusiasm. At Rangnick, many experts in Austria asked whether there should have been a younger, more innovative solution. Most recently at Manchester United, the tactics guru failed badly as interim coach; before that, he had actually already turned his back on the coaching bench: After leaving RB Leipzig in the summer of 2019, he worked at an administrative level for the brewery company and then for Lok Moscow been.
At the age of almost 64, Austria surprisingly called him up – and it has been a success story so far: in his 14 international matches for the ÖFB, Rangnick has achieved an average points average of 1.71, he has strengthened and brilliantly integrated difficult characters like Marko Arnautovic, and it works The Austrians enjoy watching their “boys” play.
Austria’s national coach Ralf Rangnick in conversation with Florian Kainz.
Scored 2.67 points on average
The same goes for the Belgians at Tedesco, who has both German and Italian citizenship. The doubts about his suitability for the job after his stints at Erzgebirge Aue, Schalke 04, Spartak Moscow and RB Leipzig with an average length of stay of just 1.08 years were just as great as Rangnick’s. Too young and inexperienced, under-achieved, never having coached a national team, there was plenty to complain about with Tedesco when he started on February 8th this year. But six games later things have calmed down, he has an incredible points average of 2.67, five wins and the draw against Austria, he beat Germany, won four times to zero, the goal balance is 16:3.
But it also became stormy and unsavory. Tedesco fell out with a Belgian legend, one of the three world-class players alongside Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku. Tedesco’s public argument with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was also indirectly about these two. When captain De Bruyne was injured, Tedesco wanted to be a diplomat and give Lukaku and Courtois the armband for a double international match. First it was Lukaku’s turn, but Courtois saw this as such an affront that he packed the bag for the second game and left angrily.
Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco and striker Romelu Lukaku
Accusation of lying by Courtois
As the association rushed to spread the tale of an injury, Tedesco blurted out his personal disappointment and even bewilderment at Courtois’ behavior at a press conference. He countered with harsh personal criticism of Tedesco via social media, accusing him of telling untruths. It is not yet possible to judge how things would have continued, as the Real Madrid keeper suffered a torn cruciate ligament.
Courtois is therefore out of the duel with Austria, as is De Bruyne, who is still missing with a serious thigh injury. Tedesco also has to do without Thomas Meunier and Leandro Trossard. But here too the parallels to Rangnick are certainly present.
Many failures also in Austria
The Austrians are also missing their leader and captain, David Alaba, while Arnautovic, Stefan Posch, Phillip Mwene and Karim Onisiwo are absent, Marcel Sabitzer and Michael Gregoritsch are also missing. With so many parallels, there is actually a lot to be said for another draw on Friday. This would mean that both teams would almost certainly qualify for 2024, even if not right from the final whistle.