Austria vs Finland
With a good weekend victory under their belt, the Austrian players welcome Finland for a friendly at the Tivoli Stadion in Tirol…and expect to win.
Football betting tips point to a regulation victory for Marcel Koller’s team. Austria are at 1.82 with a -1.00 handicap, and that same start puts Finland in at betting odds of 2.11.
The hosts are ranked by Fifa at 34th, 65 places above Finland at 99th, which also happens to be near the lowest ranking in the visitors’ history. Ex-England Coach Roy Hodgson had got the Fins going between 2006 and 2008 to reach their highest ranking of 33rd.
Austria have, for too long, looked like an underachieving team, last qualifying for a World Cup in 1998. In Bayern Munich’s David Alaba and Stoke City’s enigmatic striker Marko Arnautovic, Koller has talent at his disposal. Arnautovic was on the mark in the 2-0 win in Moldova to keep Austria just about in contention in Group D, four points behind leaders Ireland and Serbia.
Koller’s opposite number, Markku Kanerva, doesn’t have an embarrassment of riches to choose from and is highly unlikely to break his nation’s record of never qualifying for a major tournament any time soon. With just one win in six, a friendly against Morocco, Finland lost to Turkey at the weekend and are challenging Kosovo for bottom place in Group I.
This doesn’t look like a thrashing for Finland though, with under 2.25 goals available at 1.87. But Austria have won eight of the ten meetings between these two and it looks like becoming nine on Wednesday.
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
