France vs. Austria 9/22/22 Nations League Soccer Picks, Predictions, Odds

France and Austria face off on Thursday in a League 1 Group 1 UEFA Nations League showdown at Stade de France. When these two teams faced off on June 10th the game ended in a 1-1 draw. 

Austria comes into this game sitting in 3rd place in the standings having picked up four points. In the last game against Denmark, Austria failed to score any goals, and that led to the 2-0 defeat. Over the last three games, Austria has scored only two goals. Sasa Kalajdzic won’t be with the team in this game as he’s dealing with an ACL injury. Valentino Lazaro, Florian Grillitsch, Stefan Ilsanker and Martin Hinteregger also won’t be with the team as they are dealing with injuries or have hung up the cleats from international play. Even with the injuries, this is a very winnable game, and they need the offense to get going. They need to be the team that pushes the numbers forward in this game. 

France currently sits in 4th place in the standings, having picked up two points. France’s last game came against Croatia, and the offense again struggled in that game, and they were defeated 1-0. France had 54 percent of the possession and four shots on goal, but they couldn’t find the back of the net. Heading into this game, France is dealing with a ton of injuries. Paul Pogba, Presnel Kimpembe, Ibrahima Konate, Lucas Hernandez, N’Golo Kante, Anthony Martial, Kingsley Coman are all dealing with injuries, and they won’t be able to go in this game. For a team that was already having issues scoring goals, having all those key players out with injuries probably isn’t going to help anything. 

France might have a ton of talent waiting in the wings, but even when they have been healthy, they haven’t found a ton of success in the Nations league. I expect Austria’s defense is going to be elite in this game, slowing down the offense of France, and that is going to be the difference as Austria gets the job done. Back Austria on the money line.