Serbia will chase another success against Austrian national football team when both sides meet in matchday 3 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup European qualifying. Serbia and Austria were together in group G of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers where Serbs won both matches and thus they have successfully qualified to the first ever World Cup staged in African country. This time Serbia and Austria are in qualifying Group D where they’re alongside Wales, Republic of Ireland, Georgia and Moldova, meaning we have two from the main pretenders, madly competing to earn direct promotion for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Serbia vs Austria – Team News and Match Preview
“Eagles” from Serbia are keeping some great memories from the last time they met Austria, since they have won first position in the group, finishing above main group favourites and 2006 World Cup vice-champions France. Austrians were third as they lost 1-3 by Serbia in Vienna, followed by a narrow defeat at the “Stadion Rajko Mitić” in Belgrade back in June 2009. More than seven years later Serbia still dreams for a similar qualifying route and Slavoljub Muslin’s men can be inspired by their first success on Thursday night – 3:0 victory in Moldova. Now “The Eagles” will fly back home where they drew 2-2 against Republic of Ireland in the opening round and Serbs can regret about that missed opportunity to win against another main challenger. Nevertheless, they’re still in strong position and with a new perspective to benefit from their home advantage.
Austria head to Belgrade after a 2-2 draw against Wales which additionally ties situation in Group D where all main favourites share same number of points – 4 after opening two matches. Austria already won its first away qualifier when Marcel Koller’s men were victorious in Georgia (1-2), but they surely had bigger expectations for last round’s game. Anyhow, Austria show they can score and getting back from losing position since Wales took the lead two times, as one of Wales’ goals was actually an own goal by Kevin Wimmer in closing first-half seconds. It was preceded by a stunning strike from Joe Allen which opened the score for “Dragons” from Wales, but however, his Stoke City teammate Marko Arnautovic was on the pitch to level the score in both occasions.
Serbia vs Austria – Betting Prediction and Possible Lineups
Serbia shows decent attacking display so far as “Eagles” have scored five goals in their two qualifiers. Moreover, team remains unbeaten after Slavoljub Muslin’s appointment and we doubt he’ll change that formation with three central defenders used in previous games. Matija Nastasic, Branislav Ivanovic and Jagos Vukovic form that trio at the back, supported by the defensive contribution of both wing-backs Aleksandar Kolarov and Antonio Rukavina. Kolarov played against Moldova as he returned from a suspension which is the reason he missed opener against Ireland, while the good news grow since expectations are that Chelsea’s midfielder Nemanja Matic should return as well. This supply even stronger midfield formation in Serbian team since we believe Matic and Nemanja Gudelj can form really strong duo in central part of the field, where they must win battle against Austria’s duo – Julian Baumgartlinger and David Alaba.
Update: Nemanja Matic’s suspension expires after this round so he won’t be able to play against Austria. Nemanja Gudelj and Luka Milivojevic are expected to form central midfield duo of “The Eagles”.
Serbian attack is expected to be boosted by Filip Kostic and Dusan Tadic attacking through both wings, but main question remains who’ll be on top of their formation. Nikola Stojiljkovic, Andrija Pavlovic and Aleksandar Mitrovic are the typical central forwards in current Serbian roster but their hasn’t been on the required level. We won’t be surprised if another winger in Aleksandar Katai’s face starts next to Kostic and Tadic, likewise Thursday’s qualifying match in Moldova where he replaced Andrija Pavlovic on half-time.
Marcel Koller is a coach who don’t like to make many rotations and we expect same, or nearly same lineup he used against Wales on Thursday. One of the forced rotations can be on the goal where Robert Almer received a calf injury and he was subbed by Ramazan Özcan in second half of the game, so we expect Özcan to start from the outset in Belgrade.
Another rotation which looks pretty reliable is related with the left-back position where Kevin Wimmer played against Wales, but his main position is central defender. The own goal he scored was really unfortunate and we don’t believe this can be a reason for eventual replacement if Marcel Koller decides to make change at the left-back. More likely Koller can be tempted to start with Markus Suttner who’s typical left defender and this may refresh the line. RB Leipzig’s winger Marcel Sabitzer and Schalke 04’s Alessandro Schöpf are the two who are in contention to replacing injured Martin Harnik, as first of them played whole match against Wales, while Schöpf replaced Zlatko Junuzovic in closing minutes of the game.
Marko Arnautovic did more than enough to retain its starting position and the 27-year-old winger, together with central forward Marc Janko, are probably biggest threat from Austrian selection for Serbia’s defense.
Final conclusion and Betting Prediction
Serbia is with a role of the great lineup which always fails to qualify on major tournaments, while Austria comes as the team drawn out from Pot 2, making them one of the favourites, so they should meet high expectations. Apparently both nations are keen to earn all the points from game at “Mala Marakana”, but there can be only one winner after the final whistle… Even a draw won’t be that bad, especially for Austria, but Serbs must work hard for the win since they’re the hosts here.
Odds for “Both teams to score – Yes” represent really good value on our sight and we firmly believe Serbia and Austria will both score on Sunday night.
Venue: “Stadion Rajko Mitić”, Belgrade.
Referee: Jonas Eriksson from Sweden.
Possible starting lineups of Serbia and Austria
Serbia: Vladimir Stojkovic – Matija Nastasic, Jagos Vukovic, Branislav Ivanovic – Aleksandar Kolarov, Luka Milivojevic, Nemanja Gudelj, Antonio Rukavina – Filip Kostic, Dusan Tadic, Aleksandar Mitrovic. (3-4-3)
Austria: Ramazan Özcan – Kevin Wimmer, Martin Hinteregger, Aleksandar Dragovic, Florian Klein – David Alaba, Julian Baumgartlinger – Marko Arnautovic, Zlatko Junuzovic, Marcel Sabitzer – Marc Janko. (4-2-3-1)