Preview: Austria vs. Moldova - prediction, team news, lineups

The hosts are enjoying a six-game unbeaten run, while Moldova return to action in a positive mood after beating Poland in their most recent outing.

Match preview

Former Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick appears to have found his feet as Austria manager after his tenure got off to a shaky start with his first six matches in charge producing just one win, one draw and four defeats.

Since losing 3-1 to Croatia in September 2022, Austria have embarked on an encouraging run of form, consisting of five victories and one draw.

After beating Andorra and Italy in friendly encounters, Rangnick's side began their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with home wins over Azerbaijan and Estonia, before picking up a point on their away trip to Belgium.

In their most recent outing, Austria claimed a 2-0 victory over Sweden thanks to two late goals from Christoph Baumgartner, ensuring his country rounded off the June international period in top spot.

Although Austria will have one eye on Tuesday's trip to Sweden in Euro 2024 qualifying, they will be hoping to claim a positive result in Thursday's friendly to extend their unbeaten run to seven matches.

Moldova, meanwhile, celebrated their first victory since September 2022 during the previous international break in June when they produced a stunning comeback to beat Poland 3-2.

After heading into the break with a two-goal deficit, Moldova staged a remarkable turnaround in the second period as Ion Nicolaescu netted a brace to pull his country level, before Vladislav Baboglo snatched all three points with an 85th-minute winner.

Having accumulated five points from their four qualifiers, Moldova occupy third position in Group E and are one point adrift of second-placed Albania, who have a game in hand over Serghei Clescenco's charges.

As Moldova continue to dream about reaching their first major tournament, they will already be thinking about Sunday's crucial qualifying encounter against the Faroe Islands.

Before Clescenco prepares his squad for a trip to Torshavn, his side will make a stop off in Vienna, where they will attempt to claim a surprise victory over a country that are 135 places above them in the FIFA World Rankings.

Austria friendly form:

Austria form (all competitions):

W

W

W

W

D

W

Moldova friendly form:

Moldova form (all competitions):

L

L

D

D

L

W

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Team News

With Tuesday's qualifying game against Sweden taking priority, Ragnick could be tempted to rest key players, including captain David Alaba and RB Leipzig's Baumgartner.

Freiburg's Philipp Lienhart is expected to start Thursday's friendly, and he could be joined in central defence by Kevin Danso.

Lienhart's club teammate Michael Gregoritsch is set to feature up front for the hosts, and the 29-year-old will be looking to continue his fine international form after scoring in three of his last four appearances for his country.

As for the visitors, they have named a 25-man squad that contains 12 players who play their club football in either Moldova or neighbouring Romania.

With Moldova set to face the Faroe Islands in European Championship qualifying on Sunday, Clescenco is likely to spread the minutes among his squad in Thursday's friendly.

Heerenveen striker Nicolaescu represents the visitors' main goal threat after scoring 12 goals in his 34 international appearances.

Austria possible starting lineup:

Schlager; Posch, Lienhart, Danso, Wober; Wimmer, Laimer, Seiwald, Kainz; Gregoritsch, Adamu

Moldova possible starting lineup:

Railean; Craciun, Bolohan, Posmac; Revenco, Baboglo, Ionita, Reabciuk; Cojocaru, Postolachi, Nicolaescu

We say: Austria 2-0 Moldova

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