"We want to surprise people. I think a lot of countries still don't have us on their radar." Ralf Rangnick said that about Euro 2024 — and it worked. Now he's taking the same mentality to the biggest stage of all.
Austria are heading to a FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1998, and Rangnick, the man who somewhat limped out of Manchester United's caretaker role in 2022, has quietly built something worth paying attention to. Twenty-seven wins, eight draws, ten defeats since taking charge. More importantly, a team that plays with an identity — press-heavy, purposeful, and with a togetherness that showed clearly at the Euros.
Group J is no gift
Austria have been drawn against Jordan, Algeria, and reigning world champions Argentina — Lionel Messi's sixth and record-breaking World Cup included. There's no sugarcoating it: that group asks serious questions.
Rangnick didn't dodge that. "Opposition doesn't come much tougher, even from Pot 1," he said of the Argentina fixture. But interestingly, he flagged Jordan as the game that could define their tournament. "The first game, against Jordan, could be decisive. We're really determined to qualify for the Round of 32." Smart prioritisation. Knockout-round odds for Austria look thin on paper, but group advancement is a realistic target — and that opener against Jordan is where it starts.
Getting out of the group would already mark their best World Cup run since 1982. Given their Euro 2024 showing — navigating the group stage against France, the Netherlands, and Poland before losing to Türkiye in the Round of 16 — that ceiling might actually be higher than the stats suggest. That last-16 exit to Türkiye still stings, and Rangnick knows it. "Learn the right lessons from the game against Türkiye, so that we get as far as possible in the knockout rounds," he said. That's not ambition for ambition's sake. It's a team that knows where it came short.
More than tactics
What's made Rangnick's Austria interesting isn't just the system — it's the cohesion. "We have really become a kind of family," he said, and while that kind of quote usually gets dismissed as pre-tournament noise, Austria's performances back it up. This isn't a squad playing for a badge. They play like they actually like each other.
Rangnick also spoke about what qualifying meant beyond football — calling it "a boost" for the country, and admitting the pressure of the final qualifier against Bosnia and Herzegovina was greater than anything he expects at the World Cup itself. That's a manager who understands context.
Austria ranked 23rd in the world, heading to California, Missouri, and Texas. Underestimated, experienced under pressure, and coached by someone with something to prove. That's a combination that has caused upsets before.
