Will Austria get off to a dream start?
Two games, two wins – that’s the Austrians’ impressive record so far. However, it’s also true that Team Austria has faced the two weakest teams in the group so far and will now face its first real test in our Latvia vs. Austria prediction.
The Latvians just handed the German team a 2-0 loss and weren’t without a chance in their 2-4 defeat against host Switzerland either. Latvia and Austria already faced off in warm-up games six weeks ago, with each nation claiming one victory.
In that 1-0 victory for the Latvians, their defense was also impenetrable. Led by goalie Gudlevskis, this defense is definitely the team’s crowning glory. So for Latvia vs. Austria, our prediction is another win for the Latvians, in which not too many total goals are likely to be scored again.
In addition to betting on Latvia and under 5.5 goals, we also recommend betting on Rudolfs Balcers to score in this match. The Latvian leads the scoring charts with three goals in two games and is by far the most dangerous attacker on the Latvian team.
Latvia – Austria Head-to-Head Record
Eight of the last ten head-to-head matches went to Latvia. We’ve already discussed the warm-up games, where the Austrians won one match 4-3 and the Latvians the other 1-0.
At first glance, this suggests a match between evenly matched teams, though overall we still see the individual quality on the side of the Eastern Europeans. In their loss to Austria during the warm-up, they also managed to pull within 0-3 within just six minutes.
Latvia – Austria Prediction
Latvia caught the German team off guard on Sunday. That didn’t come as a huge surprise, though, as the nation continues to develop step by step and is closing in on the world’s top nations.
Austria still has a bit more to go, which is why our top recommendation for the Latvia vs. Austria match is a bet on Latvia to win in regulation time. We wouldn’t even be surprised by a victory with a margin of more than one goal.
Alternatively, however, our top betting recommendation is a bet on Under 5.5 total goals. This is supported not only by Latvia’s last match against Germany (2-0), but also by their most recent head-to-head match just under a month ago, in which only a single goal was scored (1-0 for Latvia).
