Ralf Rangnick, Austria’s coach and “The Godfather of Counter-Pressure”, who plans to play against Argentina at the 2026 World Cup: “This is how we qualify…”

For the Argentine national team They have told him that he has a midfield that is a “Ferrari” that has a devastating striker with the quality of the best in the world Lionel Messithat its two centers are more difficult to pass through than an immigration checkpoint and that the arch has a permanent barrier under the care of Emiliano “Dibu” Martinez. But for football analysis: One of the key points of his strategy is the so-called “post-loss recovery”.the time that elapses between the opponent stealing the ball and regaining possession of the ball. And in the second game World Cup 2026 against Austriathe coach Lionel Scaloni will have a tough challenge against a coach they call “the godfather of counter-pressure.”.

The German Ralf Rangnickwho took over the management of the Austrian team in June 2022 – just as Argentina won the finalissima against Italy in London and had no chance of getting to Qatar – revolutionized with a simple and concise training methodknown in English as “Counter-pressing”. He introduced a stopwatch into his training sessions: if a team loses the ball, they have it eight seconds to get it backas after that it may be too late and once it is, it will be reset to 10 seconds to start the counterattack and try to put the rival out of action.

“A few weeks after training in this way, players develop the instinct to act with utmost urgency when making substitutions. Players develop a habit ingrained in the subconscious and actions become automated to progress faster.”is explained in one of the six books that are part of “Phase of Play,” a package of e-books that includes, for example, the game of possession Josep Guardiola or the “positioning and relationship” of Xabi Alonso.

In fact, it is mentioned that the 67-year-old Rangnick led a generation of successful coaches such as: Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel, Julian Naggelsmann And Jesse March. The final three will be under the command of in the World Cup England, Germany And Canadarespectively.

And in dialogue with Clarion A few minutes after the draw for the group phase of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Washington DC, the native of Backnanger – 30 kilometers from Stuttgart – He has already warned that he will not change his style to face Argentina in the second game of the group stagewhich will be played on June 22nd at the impressive AT&T Stadium in Dallas with a capacity for more than 90,000 people and an air-conditioned environment.

“We always play the same, no matter which team is in front of us. We try to play our style of football because that’s how we qualify.”assured himself of the solid path in the qualifiers, where the group with which he shared.

And he concluded: “The key is our team, the spirit we have. We showed it by playing great games against important teams, Argentina is one of them. I saw them in the final against France in Qatar, I was there, so we know how strong they are.”

Rangnick couldn’t avoid that Argentina “was the most difficult team to play against in Pot 1”. Not just because they are the current world champions, but also because “I won the Copa América twice and qualified well before that.”. “Similarly,” he clarified, “I am happy with the draw and the group, as there are no big differences in the weather conditions,” said the coach who was there during the event For eight years he was responsible for the Red Bull Group’s football decisions and under his mandate the conglomerate’s clubs They increased their price from 120 million euros to 1.2 billion euros.

There is one proper name that clouds everyone, and that is that of Lionel Messi. And the Austrian coach, laughing, revealed a thought that remained in his mind after that night of December 18, 2022 at the Lusail Stadium, when La Pulga finally lifted the World Cup to enter the Olympus of football.

“Messi is one of the best, if not the best, players I’ve ever seen. To be honest, I thought Qatar would be his last World Cup, especially because of the way the team played and that he wouldn’t be able to play for another four years. It’s great to be able to play against a player like that.”he explained.

The other belongs to his colleague Lionel Scaloniwhom I didn’t know before the World Cup, even though he had already become American champion after 28 years and the aforementioned finalissima at Wembley Stadium. “To be honest, I didn’t know Scaloni before the World Cup in Qatar and when I saw them play I realized that they were a strong team, they wanted to win, also because of Leo, he did a great job to win the World Cup.”held.

And finally he addressed the other two rivals in Group J: “I don’t know Jordan or Algeria. I know the coach who led Switzerland (at the 2018 World Cup) and I know the football they play. We still have games to watch and analyze in March and June, so we will come well prepared.”.

Are 43 games directed with Austria for Rangnick, the only lost 10. They qualified for the last European Championship – losing to Turkey in the round of 16 – are 24th in the FIFA rankings and will be playing in a World Cup for the first time since France in 1998. Their captain is the Real Madrid defender David Alabais the organizer and quality leap of the midfield Marcel Sabitzer (Borussia Dortmund) and the goalscorer Marko Arnautovic (Red Star), who scored 47 goals in 130 games with the national team.