In normal circumstances, you may consider this game to be an open-and-shut case before the whistle is even blown. France, the aristocrats of European football, won the World Cup in 2018, a finalist in 2022 against an Austrian side that has never really achieved much.
That was until Ralf Rangnick took over the reins, under his stewardship, it seems that Austria has taken on a new lease of life and the fact that this hugely respected manager turned down the managerial position at the mighty Bayern Munich recently has given an almighty confidence boost to the Austrian players.
Odds and Predictions
It’s no surprise that the French team are odds-on for this match at 1.50, but we are not so sure that they will have it all their own way.
Ralf Rangnick will ensure that his team is well up for this and whilst we think that it will be a tough ask for them to win this game, our predictions indicate a draw is more than possible.
The price for the draw is a very respectable 4.5 and as far as the score goes, tips for 1 – 1 at 9.0 would be a good bet.
We would also advise a small wager on the ‘Double Chance’ market, Austria, to ‘win or draw’ at odds of 2.5, just in case Austria can spring a surprise.
Comparison and Statistics from Past Meetings between the Teams
Austria and France have faced each other H2H 25 times in their history. France has the upper hand with 13 wins, while Austria has won 9 times, and there have been 3 draws between the two teams.
The last five head-to-head matches are listed below.
| Past Meetings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Sep 2022 | france | 2-0 | austria | UEFA Nations League |
| 10 Jun 2022 | austria | 1-1 | france | UEFA Nations League |
| 14 Oct 2009 | france | 3-1 | austria | FIFA World Cup Qualifiers |
| 06 Sep 2008 | austria | 3-1 | france | FIFA World Cup Qualifiers |
| 28 Mar 2007 | france | 1-0 | austria | Friendly Game |
Expected Line Ups
You only need to look at the names of Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe to realise what the Austrian team is up against, but Ralf Rangnick has seen it all before.
We are sure he will set his team up in a manner for which he is famous, i.e., always attempting to win back possession after losing it instead of regrouping, which is the tactic most teams use.
This will no doubt unsettle some of the prima donna French players, but on saying that, they are no mugs either, so a fascinating game is on the cards.
Austria (4-2-3-1): Alexander Schlager; Stefan Posch, Leopold Querfeld, Kevin Danso, Phillipp Mwene; Nicolas Seiwald, Florian Grillitsch; Konrad Laimer, Christoph Baumgartner, Marcel Sabitzer; Michael Gregoritsch.
France (4-3-3): Mike Maignan; Theo Hernandez, Ibrahima Konate, Dayot Upamecano, Jonathan Clauss; Aurélien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot, Antoine Griezmann; Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud, Ousmane Dembele.
How Far Will These Teams Progress in the Tournament?
It’s a shame that Austria are in such a strong group as they are such an entertaining team to watch, but it is what it is, and we don’t see them progressing past the group stages.
As for France, we believe they will qualify from Group D, but will get knocked out in the last 16, the first major shock of the tournament.
