Denmark’s team boss Kasper Hjulmand is in his team’s Nations League game on Monday in Vienna’s Happel Stadium against Austria (20:45 in the afternoon). LIVE Ticker) set for a difficult opponent.
The 50-year-old shows great respect for the ÖFB selection, which he sees heading for a successful future due to the quality of the players and the appointment of Ralf Rangnick as head coach. “Rangnick has been a great inspiration for many coaches for a long time. He can do great things with this team,” predicts Hjulmand.
The ideas of the German could already be seen in the 3-0 win of the Austrians in Croatia. “Very high intensity, fast and high pressing, lots of vertical runs,” says the Danish coach, describing the Rangnick philosophy. “You will see in the next year or two that the Austrian team will develop well.”
“It will be a close game”
Hjulmand emphasized that the victories of his squad against Austria in the World Cup qualifier last year should not be overestimated. “When it was 4-0 in Vienna, I also remember the first hour, it was balanced there. We played very well for the last half hour and it was a great result, but it also covered up the phase before that.”
The 1-0 win in Copenhagen was also “very complicated” for Denmark. That’s why Hjulmand doesn’t see Denmark as a favourite. “It will be a close game.” The 1992 European champions travel to Austria with the confidence they gained from their 2-1 away win against France.
“It was a big win, our performance was at a very high level. But there are still things we can improve on,” said Hjulmand. Now it is important to stay in the flow. “After a win like that, it’s a mental thing to keep going.”
Denmark are missing three important players
However, Hjulmand is not too concerned that his selection could be reduced. “We’re very hungry,” says the team boss, who has to do without the injured Kasper Dolberg (Nice/shoulder) and Simon Kjaer (Milan/knee). Also absent is Andreas Christensen (Chelsea), who became a father on Sunday.
Not only these failures forced Hjulmand to improvise – the Danes were originally supposed to land in Vienna on Saturday in the early afternoon, but the departure from Paris was delayed by almost five hours. Therefore, the training planned for Saturday evening in Vienna was cancelled.
“But it’s no problem,” Hjulmand says. His team will be supported by around 800 away fans at the Happel Stadium on Monday.
