Wales vs Austria Game Preview, Live Stream, Odds, Picks & Predictions

Wales: Rock Solid on Home Soil

A straight one-game knockout tie is ahead of us in Cardiff on Thursday, with one of the two teams advancing to the final of the European qualification stage. Wales was drawn in a tough group that included one of the top teams in the world, Belgium, and the Czech Republic, but they impressed everyone by finishing as runners-up and losing just one game.

Bale is the team’s best player and that has not changed despite some difficult times at club level. The forward is not enjoying his best season with Real Madrid, being left on the bench for the majority of this campaign, but he remains the most important member of manager Rob Page’s squad. He has made only two appearances for Real Madrid since Wales last played in November. Aaron Ramsey is also struggling for game time at present, but the Juventus midfielder is another who should impress and help his team qualify in the final stage of this qualifying campaign. Since joining Rangers on loan from Juventus in January, only two of his five appearances have been starts.

With Danny Ward out injured, goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey will reach 100 caps if he plays against Austria. Wales have quality among their ranks and look to be a good price at +195 to set up a tie against either Scotland or Ukraine in the next round of the playoffs. In its history, Wales has only taken part in one World Cup, the 1958 edition. They will try to write another page of history for their home nation and book their World Cup ticket. They will be at home so their fans will create an amazing atmosphere in the stands. The value is on them, so we will include them in our soccer picks and parlays.

Austria: Inconsistent on Road

Austria is in the playoffs courtesy of winning their Nations League group ahead of Norway, Romania and Northern Ireland. They finished fourth in their World Cup qualifying group, behind Denmark, Scotland and Israel. They were well beaten at home by the Danes and away in Israel, and lost at home to Scotland in September.

Austria’s squad includes Real Madrid’s Alaba and Bologna striker Marko Arnautovic as well as Watford goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann. They are fully packed with players from the German top-flight league with a lot of experience at international level like Bayern Munich’s Marcel Sabitzer, Eintracht Frankfurt’s Martin Hinteregger and Hoffenheim’s Christoph Baumgartner. They enjoyed a superb Euro campaign, losing to Italy in extra time in the knockout stages. They are one of the difficult teams to play against, but they are struggling to win on the road so if you’re betting online, avoid backing them.

Wales vs Austria Head-to-Head

These two nations actually met in Group D of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Wales got the better of Austria overall, winning 1-0 on home soil and drawing 2-2 away, but that was not enough to secure the nation a ticket to the previous tournament.

Winning just two of their prior six away fixtures remains extremely disappointing form for Austria, though, especially as both of those victories came against low-ranked opposition in the Faroe Islands and Moldova. In fact, Austria hasn’t won a road game against an opponent currently ranked better than Wales since beating Sweden 4-1 in 2015.

Wales vs Austria Game Information

• Game: Wales (4-3-1) vs. Austria (5-1-4)
• Location: Cardiff City Stadium
• Day/Time: Thursday, 3:45 p.m. ET
• Live stream: fubo.tv

Wales vs Austria Betting Lines

Team	Handicap	Moneyline	Total	Team Total
Wales	pk -105	+195	2-120o	½-230o ½+180u
Austria	pk -125	+170	2-110u	½-240o ½+190u
Draw		+195

Wales vs Austria Predictions

The odds suggest that we will have a cagey match in which anything is possible as the two teams are priced at +195 and +170, respectively, on the three-way moneyline according to the latest soccer odds. The goal-line is set at two and it looks like we’re heading in that direction. This is a do-or-die match and the winner takes it all.

Over the course of their last 11 World Cup 2021 home matches, Wales have been involved in no fewer than 11 contests in which under 3½ goals have been netted, so achieving consistency has not proven too difficult on this front. As for Austria, they have now been involved in 15 top-flight away fixtures in a row containing three goals or fewer. We don’t expect a tone of goals, but we do expect goals from both sides.

Pick: Both teams to score (Ev)