Heavy Metal as a motif – Rangnick's Austria side pushes Israel in Linz

In the steel city of Linz, the roar of Heavy‑Metal guitars echoed over the stadium as the Austrian FA team under Ralf Rangnick took on Israel. The match started loudly, the players lunged for the ball, and in the end Saša Kalajdžić and Phillipp Mwene secured the victory.

Against the ball it clanged, as the head coach wanted, and old weaknesses emerged in the numerical superiority. Currently the coach's favourite word is “clank”, followed by “Heavy Metal”, which explains the choice of venue in Linz. Rangnick wanted to rediscover the intensity that had been missing at the World Cup. If Ralf Rangnick has a favourite word, you reliably hear it in Austrian football.

Intensity and Tactical Instructions

Rangnick felt his main task fulfilled with the 3‑1 start in the Nations League: the team bit down harder again, especially the double sixes Nicolas Seiwald and Xaver Schlager controlled the game more strongly. “It certainly wasn’t the absolute highest level yet,” he explained, attributing that to the short training period. “Against the ball we clearly played better than at the World Cup,” emphasized the head coach, who was “absolutely satisfied” with the energy level.

Israel only managed the equaliser in the 55th minute: Saied Abu Farchi headed home from a cross to make it 1‑1. Shortly afterwards he had to leave the pitch after celebrating his joy with a yellow‑red card. That ended his involvement, and Israel’s team remained goalless thereafter.

The numerical superiority exposed a problem that has been present since the Mesozoic: in attack, creative combinations were missing against the compact five‑man line. Instead of a Heavy‑Metal power play, “cuddle‑rock” dominated, with Paul Wanner reaching for the bass guitar after the break. Crosses became plan A, B and C, with Seiwald complaining that the box was initially unfilled and Kalajdžić was isolated in the penalty area, which, however, improved minute by minute.

In the 90th minute, Paul Wanner’s dream cross finally broke through to Phillipp Mwene. Mwene sprinted from defence, met the lofted pass with his knee and scored his first goal for the team. “I’m not a scorer, I don’t know if I did it technically right – but it worked,” he said after the strike. Shortly afterwards, after an assist from Christoph Lang, Saša Kalajdžić finished the final ball to make it 3‑1.

Team Voices and Outlook

Patrick Wimmer commented on the restructuring: “We have a truly rebuilt squad, of course not everything runs smoothly from the start.” Mwene added: “It didn’t work perfectly, but we showed our face again.” He stressed that the team had trained intensively for two days, more than usual before a match, and announced that this would continue. Co‑debutant Christoph Lang spoke of a “different wind” under Rangnick.

Rangnick is already looking ahead to the next duel against Kosovo next Sunday at 6 p.m. in the Ernst‑Happel‑Stadium. There he will face more travelling fans and a stronger opponent, after Franco Foda’s Ireland side had been beaten 1‑0. “That will be a different game, we want to be dominant,” said Nicolas Seiwald. Rangnick added that he gets along very well with his predecessor, the former Austrian FA head coach, and finds him extremely likeable.