KANSAS CITY, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Austria head coach Ralf Rangnick said Friday that his side will not play for a draw in its decisive Group J clash against Algeria, despite knowing a point would be enough to reach the knockout stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Prior to the final group round, Argentina already qualified as group winner with six points. Austria and Algeria, both defending Jordan and losing to the defending champion, tied on three points,
A draw would send Austria, with a superior goal difference, through as runner-up, setting up a likely last-32 meeting with current Group H leader Spain, while a defeat would leave them relying on the third-place ranking.
Rangnick, however, dismissed any notion of trying to avoid Spain or settling for a stalemate.
"If we have a draw tomorrow we can go on, but we cannot go into a match and say we just play for a draw. It is the same for us and Algeria," Rangnick told a pre-match press conference. "We will see what it looks like when there are only five or 10 minutes left for the game, but we are not sending the team into the game saying we will play for a draw."
When asked directly if his team might plan not to win in order to avoid Spain, the German coach was emphatic: "No, definitely not. Next question."
Rangnick described Group J as "one of the most difficult groups" and said his players were fully braced for a physical test from the North African side, who has shown marked improvement under a new coach.
"It is a very complete team under the new coach. They experienced some development, it is not easy to shoot a goal against them," Rangnick said. "Argentina was able to do that with its way of playing but as we all know, Argentina really has the right weapons for that."
"Algeria is a team that we can match technically, most of the players are in European top teams and we have to face a team with a complete good package and also have to play at a very high level from a tactical point of view."
Bayern Munich midfielder Konrad Laimer, who knows Algerian internationals Fares Chaibi, Ibrahim Maza and Ramy Bensebaini from the Bundesliga, said Austria is concentrating only on its own performance.
"Very good players, I know them from the Bundesliga, the whole team has a lot of quality, individual quality also," Laimer said. "We concentrate on ourselves, we want to play the best match and in the end we just want to go on."
The 29-year-old player said reaching the knockout stage would mean a great deal to the country.
"It is something very big and we noticed it all the time, even after the first game, it is a World Cup and you represent your own country, and you can feel it that it is something very special," Laimer said. "We want to create something special, and I hope we can stay along as long as possible in the tournament." Enditem
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