Austria-Serbia and Portugal-Finland are two international friendlies and are played Tuesday at 8:45 p.m.: live TV, streaming, likely lineups, predictions.
The progress made by Austria since the federation chose to rely on a coach of Ralf Rangnick’s caliber is there for all to see. Under the former Leipzig and Manchester United coach, the red and white selection managed to qualify for Euro ’24 without any problems, collecting one point less than the heavily favored Belgium, and has also shined in recent friendlies. There are even six wins in a row for the Das Team, which between November and March in addition to Slovakia also beat Germany (2-0) and Turkey (6-1).
The question now arises: where can this Austria go from here? Rangnick – who meanwhile has shown that he believes blindly in the project, to the point of turning down the Bayern Munich bench – is a guarantee but it would undoubtedly be a feat already to get through the group, given that within Group C there are also two battleships such as France and the Netherlands as well as the insidious Poland. It will not be easy to make it to the knockout stage even for talented Serbia, drawn with England, Denmark and Slovenia. For the Balkans this will be their first participation in a European championship since they became independent: coach Dragan Stojkovic can count on undoubtedly valuable players such as Vlahovic, Milinkovic-Savic and Mitrovic but, lately, too often (see the Qatari World Cup) this national team has betrayed expectations. And this is evidenced by the fact that since last June only three wins in nine matches have come.
The Prediction
Trust in Austria, which even without a few important pawns – Sabitzer, for example, took the field last Saturday with his Borussia Dortmund side in the Champions League final – should be able to avoid defeat in a match of at least three goals total.
Austria-Serbia
probable lineups.
AUSTRIA (4-2-3-1): Pentz; Lainer, Posch, Danso, Mwene; Grillitsch, Seiwald; Laimer, Baumgartner, Kainz; Gregoritsch.
SERBIA (3-4-2-1): V. Milinkovic-Savic; Pavlovic, Milenkovic, Veljkovic; Kostic, Lukic, Zivkovic; Milinkovic-Savic, Tadic; Mitrovic.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
There will be three friendlies that Roberto Martinez’s Portugal will play before their Euro 2024 debut with the Czech Republic. The Lusitanians – at least on paper – should have no problem winning a group in which, in addition to the Czechs, there are also Turkey and Georgia.
Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates, in fact, have all the credentials to give even the likes of France and England, heavy favorites for the final victory, a run for their money. The former Belgium coach got off on the right foot: his Portugal overcame a qualifying round – full points, 36 goals scored in 10 games and only 2 conceded – in which, however, the strongest national team was Slovakia, which finished second. The long winning streak was broken in March in the friendly with Slovenia, which ended 2-0. In Lisbon, before the departure for Germany, comes Finland, which will watch the European Championships from home after losing the playoff semifinal (4-1 to Wales). Despite the great disappointment, the federation has decided to continue to put its faith in technical commissioner Markku Kanerva.
The prediction
Portugal’s greater quality will make the difference in a match in which Martinez will also take advantage to experiment. The Lusitanians should score two to four goals against Finland.
Portugal-Finland likely lineups
PORTOGAL (4-3-3): Diogo Costa; Cancelo, Antonio Silva, Ruben Dias, Dalot; Vitinha, Palhinha, Bruno Fernandes; Bernardo Silva, Gonçalo Ramos, Leao.
FINLAND (4-4-2): Hradecky; Alho, Tenho, Ivanov, Jensen; Lod, Peltola, Suhonen, Nissila; Pukki, Pohjanpalo.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 3-0
