Austria vs Russia 31/05/18

31 May 2018

After two consecutive victories in the World Cup qualifying group against Serbia and Moldova, Austria, who failed to secure their appearance at the 2018 FIFA World Cup managed to pull off three straight wins in friendly matches against Uruguay, Slovenia, and Luxemburg, scoring nine goals in the process. Das Team intend to maintain a good form against Russia, whom they are set to host at the Tivoli Stadion in Innsbruck. The World Cup hosts are going through a rough period, as they’ve failed to win five games in a row, losing three times in the process, including a disastrous 3-0 defeat to Brazil. Stanislav Cherchesov is desperate to motivate his team ahead of the most prominent international tournament on the planet, and the match against Austria might be a turning point for the Sbornaya, who frantically tries to show off their potential at the big scene.

Two sides faced each other two times in 2014 and 2015 as they were drawn in the same EURO 2016 qualifying group with Austria beating Russia both times by a narrow one-goal margin.

Franco Foda has decided to stick with his star players, including Marko Arnautovic, Julian Baumgartlinger, Michael Gregoritsch, Guido Burgstaller, and David Alaba, while Cherchesov chose to exclude some of Russia’s old guard, including CSKA defenders, Sergei Ignashevich, Vasili Berezutski, Aleksei Berezutski, as well as Spartak Moscow’s Denis Glushakov and Dmitry Kombarov.