Austria – Northern Ireland SOCCER PICKS
Exciting game is what awaits us this coming at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna when Austria and Northern Ireland go determined for their first points, in game that corresponds to Group 3 of the League B of the UEFA Nations League.
Austria:
As we know, Austria failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia in a situation that has affected the overall performance of the teams, but despite them the Austrian team has started to prepare everything and making friendly level with teams like Russia , Germany and Sweden whom he defeated, in addition to Brazil against whom he lost.
But unfortunately when he has played official commitments things have not gone as expected and that happened in his debut in the UEFA Nations League where they lost in their visit to Bosnia Herzegovina by the slightest difference, with a goal from Džeko in the absence of twelve minutes to the end.
But finally it is expected that at home the situation is different, and with the support of Marko Arnautović and Alaba add their first points in the competition and get into the fight for the first place in the group.
North Ireland:
Unfortunately, those led by Michael O’Neill again were left with the desire to reach a World Cup date, when they could not in their playoff series against Switzerland after losing at home 0-1 and then a goalless draw on Swiss soil.
The results have not been as expected in their friendly games and so before selections such as Panama or Costa Rica could not get victories and this has moved to their participation in the UEFA Nations League, where they debuted with the left foot to lose at home 1 -2 against Bosnia Herzegovina, in a game where Northern Ireland had a lot of possession and squandered many scoring opportunities, to the point that they got up to 18 corner shots, but the lack of aim to the rival goal was decisive for their defeat .
Happily then played a friendly against Israel and recovered with a 3-0 victory, which is expected to be the trigger for the green and white army to lift their motivation and especially in their confidence for their game this Friday in Vienna .
The last direct match between these teams goes back to the World Cup qualifiers Germany 2006, in the first game played in Ireland the result was a draw with three goals, while in Austria the victory was 2-0 for the Austrians.
On a general level, Northern Ireland leads the series since 1982 with 4 victories for 2 of Austria in the 9 commitments since then.
While on Austrian soil, Northern Ireland has 2 victories for 1 Austrian victory in five games.
