Austria will look to build on a positive Euro 2020 campaign when they travel to Moldova in World Cup qualifying on Wednesday.
Das Team got to the knockout stages of the European Championships for the first time in the summer and are now aiming to reach their first World Cup in over 20 years.
Match preview
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After finishing second in Group C, Austria took eventual champions Italy to extra time in the round of 16 at Euro 2020 before losing 2-1.
The central European nation have not qualified for the World Cup since 1998, but under German boss Franco Foda they may fancy their chances of getting to Qatar.
Foda, who has been in charge since the start of 2018, has the highest win percentage of any Austria national team manager (55%) for nearly 40 years.
Denmark are the early leaders in Group F in World Cup qualifying with maximum points after three games, but Austria will have their eyes on finishing as runners-up which will grant them a spot in the playoffs; they are only a point behind current second-place side Scotland.
Foda's team are currently fourth in the table with four points following a 2-2 draw with Scotland, a 3-1 win over the Faroe Islands and a 4-0 loss to Denmark in March.
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Hosts Moldova might just be aiming to get a win on board, having picked up just five victories in their 61 World Cup qualifying matches since becoming a member of FIFA in 1994.
Needless to say that the Eastern European country have never qualified for a major tournament and are currently ranked 175th in the world – only four European nations place lower.
However, manager Roberto Bordin, appointed in February, will take hope from a 1-0 friendly win over Azerbaijan in their last outing in June.
That was Moldova's first victory in 17 matches, but they have not won a competitive match since beating Andorra 1-0 in Euro 2020 qualifying in June 2019.
Bordin's side sit bottom of Group F after a 1-1 draw with the Faroe Islands in their first game before an 8-0 defeat to Denmark and a 4-1 defeat to Israel; only Gibraltar have conceded more goals so far in European qualifying.
Wednesday will be the seventh meeting between the two countries – Austria have won five of the previous six including both games in World Cup qualifying four years ago.
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Team News
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Moldova have four players suspended for this game – Igor Armas, Vadim Rata and Catalin Carp all picked up two yellow cards during the qualifiers in March, while Ion Nicolaescu was sent off against Israel.
Roberto Bordin should be able to welcome back the experience of goalkeeper Stanislav Namasco and defender Alexandru Epureanu, both 34, after the pair were unavailable for June's friendlies.
Former Torino striker Vitalie Damascan is expected to lead the line after scoring the winning goal against Azerbaijan.
Austria captain Julian Baumgartlinger has been forced to pull out of their squad due to a recurring knee injury.
David Alaba's role in Austria's team can change game by game; he played in defence throughout Euro 2020 but featured in midfield in the first three World Cup qualifiers in March.
PSV defender Phillipp Mwene is the only uncapped player in Franco Foda's squad.
Moldova possible starting lineup:
Namasco; Posmac, Bolohan, Epureanu; Jardan, Ionita, Cojocari, Reabciuk; Platica, Costrov; Damascan
Austria possible starting lineup:
Bachmann; Lainer, Dragovic, Hinteregger, Ulmer; Grillitsch; Laimer, Sabitzer, Alaba, Baumgartner; Arnautovic
We say: Moldova 0-3 Austria
Buoyed by their performance at Euro 2020, Austria should come into these World Cup qualifiers full of confidence and they will expect to get past Moldova fairly easily. The hosts are the whipping boys of this group and this is unlikely to be their only convincing defeat this month.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Austria win with a probability of 62.2%. A draw had a probability of 23.3% and a win for Moldova had a probability of 14.53%.
The most likely scoreline for an Austria win was 0-1 with a probability of 15.5%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (13.32%) and 1-2 (9.15%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.65%), while for a Moldova win it was 1-0 (6.2%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 13.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Austria would win this match.
