The Austrian national football team will play its dress rehearsal for the upcoming pan-European European Football Championship on Sunday evening at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna. The Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) has chosen an opponent against whom the home side is to be favoured – the match between Austria and Slovakia will kick off at 7:30 pm.
In the current FIFA world rankings, Foda’s team is 23rd, eleven places ahead of Slovakia. A look at the respective squads of both national teams also shows that Austria has the higher quality. Coupled with the home advantage, the assessment is quite justified that the bet on the home victory in the Austria vs. Slovakia match is the most likely outcome.
Prediction & Live Odds for Austria vs. Slovakia
After two defeats without scoring a goal, a sense of achievement is of great importance for the Austrian national team in the European Championship dress rehearsal. The Foda eleven will have to avoid praise for another good performance after a defeat. Given the existing home strength, the tip is obvious between Austria and Slovakia.
The Slovaks have not lost four times in a row, but draws against Malta, Cyprus and Bulgaria can by no means be considered a success.
For Austria, it is to be hoped that the more offensive approach, as against England, will be practised again. This tactical approach is much better suited to the quality of the Austrian team. The chances of a successful dress rehearsal are good in any case and therefore we recommend for the betting of a home victory for Austria vs. Slovakia.
Austria – Statistics & Current Form
With a heavy 0:4 defeat in the third March match against Denmark, criticism of German head coach Franco Foda grew louder and louder. Although the Austrian team had previously delivered very strong results under Foda, euphoria never really germinated. The performances with seven to eight defence-oriented players ensures that the football is not very attractive and respectable.
Passable performance against England
Co-favourites England were Austria’s first test opponents and they had a big task ahead of them. Gareth Southgate surprisingly opted for a mixture of European Championship and non-European Championship players and only fielded an improved B eleven at the Riverside Stadium.
Nevertheless, they inflicted a 1-0 defeat on Austria. All in all, the performance of the Austrian national team was positive. Especially at the beginning of the game, the Austrian team actually showed a kind of “pressing”.
Debutant Daniel Bachmann gave a good performance in goal and was helpless when he conceded the only goal. Austria even had a chance to equalise with a shot from Sabitzer that hit the crossbar and a last-second chance from Alessandro Schöpf.
Arnautovic & Lazaro to return
The defeat against the “Three Lions” was certainly no surprise and Austria can build on the performance. In view of the European Championship opener against North Macedonia, it is important to build up self-confidence in the home match against the Slovaks.
The return of Marko Arnautovic and Valentino Lazaro is certainly important for this. “Arnie” was spared in England, Lazaro could not make the trip due to a threatening quarantine, both players will now surely be used in view of the finals.
In the match between Austria and Slovakia, the prediction for the hosts is based not only on the quality of Alaba & Co. but also on their home strength. Austria have won seven of their last ten home matches (one draw, two defeats).
Predicted line-up of Austria:
Schlager – Posch, Dragovic, Hinteregger – Alaba, Grillitsch, Baumgartner, Baumgartlinger, Lazaro – Kalajdzic, Arnautovic
Slovakia – Statistics & current form
Slovakia made their debut at the 2016 European Championship in France five years ago and were only stopped by the DFB eleven in the last 16. The Slovakians only managed to qualify for the upcoming European Championship in a roundabout way, as the team showed strong nerves in the Nations League playoffs. A victory in a penalty shootout against Ireland and an extra-time win against Northern Ireland secured the Slovakians’ return to the tournament.
Four games without defeat
The fixation of the European Championship ticket was undoubtedly the highlight in the recent past, as the performances in the Nations League were completely disappointing. With only four points, Slovakia finished last in the second-highest League B and will only be represented in the third tier next time around.
However, the negative trend was stopped in 2021 and head coach Stefan Tarkovic’s team is now unbeaten in four international matches. A statistic that sounds much more positive than it actually is.
The win against Russia in the World Cup qualifiers can definitely be called a surprise, the three draws against Malta, Cyprus (World Cup qualifiers) and last weekend in the friendly match against Bulgaria rather fall into the category of “disappointing”.
Top star Skriniar – behind him nothing for a long time
If the portal Transfermarkt is to be believed, the Slovakian squad is worth around 130 million euros, almost half of which is attributed to Inter defender Milan Skriniar (60 million euros). How realistic these figures are remains to be seen. In fact, however, the defender is the only player with an upper international class.
Qualitatively, the Slovaks certainly do not have the qualities of the Austrian national team, which is stronger both up front and across the board. Despite the series of four games without defeat, the odds on Austria vs. Slovakia are not recommended when betting on the guests.
Predicted line-up of Slovakia:
Dubravka – Holubek, Skriniar, Vavro, Pekarik – Bero, Lobotka – Weiss, Benes, Jirka – Bozenik