France are aiming for their first win in the Nations League after four games into the tournament against Austria at Saint-Denis.
The 1-0 loss to Croatia back in June meant Les Bleus cannot defend their crown anymore while Austria too suffered a 2-0 defeat to Denmark in their last Nations League game.
FRA vs AUT Match Details
Date: Thursday, 22 September 2022 / Friday, 23 September 2022
Time: 20:45 (CET) / 00:15 (IST)
Venue: Stade de France, Saint-Denis
FRA vs AUT Match Preview
This has been a horrible year for France after a decent period at the end of 2021 when they won the Nations League title and confirmed qualification to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The greatest stage for international football is set to begin in two months’ time although Les Bleus’ preparation for it has not been perfect. Losing and drawing in four games, merely two points collected, in the group stages till now of this season’s Nations League has already derailed France’s chance to reclaim the trophy with also relegation to League B looming large if things don’t go right from here. The unconvincing form is a headache for coach Didier Deschamps as these next pair of games against Austria and Croatia in the Nations League is the only chance for him to have his squad assembled and recover from the slump ahead of the World Cup in this congested schedule. Injuries have also hit the squad hard as key members of the squad are missing further restricting the usual team bonding Deschamps is expecting from the group. Even with them, France struggled badly to either thump their opposition with their feared frontline or make it hard to breach them in the first set of games played in June. Several off-field issues involving the players and the board itself are also making matters worse for the team as they are not enjoying the same optimism they had before the 2018 World Cup, the tournament they won handsomely and with no controversies. Deschamps has no choice but to ask his recent call-ups to step up in their national shirt and silence the noises circling around the team. France have lost their last two home games after staying unbeaten in 20 games prior with a 1-0 loss to Croatia through Luka Modric’s early penalty causing one of those defeats in the last game. Les Bleus also cannot afford to go five-game winless something they suffered before and during the European Championship in 2021.
If Austria managed to win against France they will relegate them to League B but can make the situation worse for themselves with a third loss in this Nations League this season. A victory will level them up with Croatia in second on seven points although it will mean less if Denmark picks up a point in their game against the Vatreni. Since their stunning 3-0 win over Croatia in Ralf Rangnick’s first game in charge, Austria have not won in their last three games in the tournament in June. Defeats to Denmark twice on either side of a draw against France have not done them any favor other than ruing missed opportunities. That victory was also the only one they had in the last six games, the other one being a 4-1 victory over Moldova last year. Das Team’s only hope is striker Marko Arnautovic’s glowing form at the club level to use him as the weapon to rub salt on France’s wounds from the first pair of games. With no World Cup to think of, Austria ought to give the contenders of the tournament in this group trouble before they make the trip to Qatar. France being one of those teams makes this game a lot trickier for them. The 1-1 draw played between these two in the reverse fixture is a confidence booster for the Austrians wishing to repeat the trick or inflict more damage to the home side. That being said, Das Team have not beaten Les Bleus away from home since 1965 when they won 2-1 in a friendly match. The 2-0 loss to Denmark in the last Nations League game ended their eight-game scoring streak since last failing to score against the same opposition last October. Austria also failed to score twice in the last five games against France.
Recent Form
FRA: LDDLW
AUT: LDLWD
FRA vs AUT Team News
Didier Deschamps’s men have a lot of significant injuries to deal with captain Hugo Lloris, striker Karim Benzema, midfielders Paul Pogba, Adrien Rabiot and N’Golo Kante and Theo Hernandez all absent for the latest Nations League squad. Lloris, Rabiot and left-back Theo Hernandez made it into the squad initially but withdraw at the last moment. Lucas Digne, who was the replacement for Theo in the first place, also dropped off due to an ankle problem he sustained at his club Aston Villa and was replaced by Adrien Truffert. His clubmate Boubacar Kamara got the call instead of the injured Rabiot. Despite that, Les Blues have their wealth of talent and depth to construct a solid team and will be using as many players in this tournament to test the squad before the World Cup in Qatar. There are three new faces called up to the senior squad in the form of Randal Kolo Muani from Eintracht Frankfurt and the pair from AS Monaco, center-back Benoit Badiashile and midfielder Youssouf Fofana. AC Milan striker Oliver Giroud will lead the forward line after returning to national team duties having scored 5 goals in 8 games for his club in the new season.
For Austria, they will miss Konrad Laimer and Sasa Kalajdzic as both are out for the long term. The RB Leipzig midfielder picked up a knee injury earlier in the month while Kalajdzic lasted only for the first half in his debut for Wolves for a cruciate ligament injury that will keep him out almost the entire season. In his absence, Marko Arnautovic will be more than happy to fill up his void after banging goals for fun for Bologna with six goals in seven games in Serie A. Valentino Lazaro, Florian Grillitsch and Stefan Ilsanker are the other injured players not included in the squad. Defender Martin Hinteregger retired from football at the age of 29 earning 67 caps for the Austrian team in the summer because of off-field issues.
Predicted Lineups
FRA: Mike Maignan; Benjamin Pavard, Jules Kounde, Raphael Varane, Ferland Mendy; Mateo Guendouzi, Aurelian Tchouameni, Edouardo Camavinga; Ousmane Dembele, Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappe
AUT: Heinz Lindner; Stefan Lainer, Gernot Trauner, Philip Lienhart, David Alaba; Marcel Sabitzer, Xaver Schlager, Nicolas Siewald; Christoph Baumgartner, Michael Gregoritsch; Marko Arnautovic
FRA vs AUT Head to Head
Andreas Weimann gave Austria the lead over France on the break forcing Didier Deschamps to wait for an equalizer from Kylian Mbappe to avoid another defeat for the side. The 1-1 draw followed the same score line against Croatia and the 2-1 loss to Denmark in the opening group stage game.
FRA vs AUT Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Maignan (8)
DEF: Pavard (7), Kounde (7), Varane (9), Alaba (9)
MID: Schagler (9), Tchouameni (9), Sabitzer (9),
FW: Arnautovic (9), Giroud (6), Mbappe (9)
Captain: Kylian Mbappe
Vice-captain: Aurelian Tchouameni
Marko Arnautovic has scored 6 goals in 7 games for Bologna this season. The 33-year-old also has a goal and an assist to his name in the Nations League.
Kylian Mbappe has scored 10 goals in 9 games for PSG in all competitions this season and has found the back of the net three times this year for France. He has 6 goals in 13 apps in the Nations League.
