Austria's return to the World Cup stage for the first time since 1998 is one of the summer's most fascinating subplots. For years, the national team was defined by a crippling, ultra-defensive negativity.
Under previous regimes, players were actively scolded for crossing the halfway line to press opposition - even when playing minnows like the Faroe Islands. Enter Ralf Rangnick.
The former Manchester United boss has staged a total identity revolution, weaponising a generation of Bundesliga-trained stars into a terrifying, high-intensity Gegenpressing machine. However, behind the scenes, Austria travel to North America wrapped in a bizarre political civil war between a demanding manager and a hostile football association.
To get the inside track on Das Team's spectacular revival and their new dual-national recruits, we sat down with The Other Bundesliga podcast host Tom Middler in the latest episode of our Make Football Great Again podcast. For Middler, Rangnick's side are the ultimate tournament disruptors - capable of taking down the world's elite, provided they don't trip over themselves first.
