Belgium vs Austria Prediction: A challenge for the "Red Devils"

Belgium's youth team

Lotto entered the group for the 2022 World Cup with Croatia, Morocco and Canada, but Belgium disappointed. They had to stop right from the group stage as championship candidates.

Coach Roberto Martinez resigned immediately after the tournament and Domenico Tedesco took his place. The Spaniard has made two perfect debuts in his new position.

Romelu Lukaku scored a hat-trick to help Belgium beat Sweden 3-0. They continued to win 3-2 against Germany in the friendly match thanks to goals from Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and Yannick Carrasco.

In the EURO 2024 qualifiers, Belgium fell into a relatively difficult group. In addition to Belgium, Sweden and Austria also aim to be in the first two positions. Of course, coach Tedesco's team is still the most likely candidate.

Before hosting Austria, Tedesco had to remove the names of a series of key players such as Thomas Meunier, dedryck Boyata, Kevin de Bruyne, Amadou Onana, Leandro Trossard, Dries Mertens and Thorgan Hazard due to injuries and poor form.

In that context, the Spaniard called for new players such as Asrer Vranckx, Olivier Deman, Mike Tresor Ndayishimiye, Ameen Al-Dakhil and Arnaud Bodart.

This is an opportunity for Belgium to rejuvenate their squad and prepare for a new era.

The shirt is in good form

Austria won all 2 opening matches in the EURO 2024 qualifiers. They won their home matches against Estonia and Azerbaijan with the scores of 2-1 and 4-1. However, Belgium will be a completely different challenge. Will Ralf Rangnick's rising army be strong enough to face the "big guys" in Europe?

The Austrian team currently has a team with a unified squad with the main pillars competing in the Bundesliga.

Since the forgettable Nations League campaign last year - winning only 1 out of 6 matches - the Austrian team has completely transformed. They entered the match against Belgium with a series of 4 consecutive wins, scoring 9 goals and keeping 2 clean sheets.

In terms of personnel, Austria will also be missing a number of important pillars including midfielder Marcel Sabitzer due to injury. Their hope is David Alaba with high form.

Head-to-head record

Belgium have failed to win four of their last nine home games and have faced a high-performing Austria. In the last 2 trips to Belgium, Austria both returned with a draw.

Austria's most recent victory over Belgium came in 1959, the "Red Devils" won 2 out of 5 meetings between the two teams since then. The away team has only kept a clean sheet in 2 of the previous 9 matches.

Prediction

Tedesco has somewhat breathed new life into the Belgian national team compared to Martinez's time. They have scored 3 goals in the last 2 matches under Tedesco, and a big win against Austria is not a far-fetched goal.

However, Ralf Rangnick is also building the Austrian national team with a difficult playing style and they will not easily return empty-handed.

Expected lineup:

Belgium: Courtois; Vertonghen, Castagne, Faes, Theate; Tielemans, Carrasco, Mangala; Vanaken, Lukaku, Lukebakio.

Austrian team: Bachmann; Mwene, Posch, Danso, Alaba; Laimer, Ljubicic, Baumgartner, Sabitzer, Wimmer; Gregoritsch.