Switzerland vs Austria prediction: WORLD: Friendly International betting tips on match 2024-06-07 16:00.
[p]Switzerland and Austria meet on Saturday at Kybunpark in St Gallen as both play their final fixture ahead of this summer’s Euro 2024. This game comes only seven days before the Red Crosses get their campaign underway against Hungary in Cologne and for head coach Murat Yakin this will be the first match since he whittled his squad down from 33 to his final 26 players.[/p]
[p]Although there are no great expectations of success in Germany this summer, Switzerland come into this friendly having suffered only one defeat across their last 13 games (W6, D6), a run which has also witnessed them keep clean sheets in each of their last three. At home, they hold an even stronger record, with just one reversal since November 2020 (W13, D6).[/p]
[p]Austria are also in fine form and they make the short hop over their western border after recording six successive wins, scoring the first goal in each, whilst winning 12 from their last 15 overall (D2, L1). On Tuesday, they beat Serbia 2-1 in their last home game ahead of the Euros, with manager Ralf Rangnick particularly impressed by how his side defended and “hardly allowed any clear cut chances.”[/p]
[p]They will need to defend similarly in Germany later this month if they are to progress from a strong group which also includes Poland, Netherlands and France, and their assignment will only prove all the tougher without injured captain David Alaba. But on Saturday, the focus will be on ending a run of three straight defeats in H2Hs and winning for the first time this century (L2) in Switzerland.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Xherdan Shaqiri, who played in the last H2H in 2015, missed his last three games for Chicago Fire through injury but played the full match for Switzerland on Tuesday in which he scored in his second international game in a row. Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner has recorded seven goal contributions across his last four internationals (G4, A3), whilst he also struck the fastest goal in international football after just six seconds against Slovakia in March![/p]
[p]Hot stat: Switzerland have not conceded a first-half goal since December 2022, a run of 13 games.[/p]