Austria vs. Brazil: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview
Austria welcome Brazil to the Ernst-Happel-Stadion on Tuesday, in an international friendly that’s a showpiece occasion in every sense.
The World Cup 2014 hosts have played a number of big friendlies since their humbling elimination from their summer tournament, but Tuesday sees them touch down in Western Europe for the first time.
Brazil are the favourites in almost every match that they play, but Austria’s impressive recent form means that it could be a thrilling contest in the capital.
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Date: Tuesday, November 18
Time: 1 p.m. ET/6 p.m. BST
TV Info: beIN Sports 2 (U.S. only)
Live Stream: beIN Sports CONNECT (U.S. only)
Brazil Looking to Continue Road to Recovery
When Brazil bowed out of World Cup 2014 at the hands of the Germans, the big question on everyone’s lips was how long they’d be suffering from their tournament hangover.
Now, just four months later, that has been comprehensively answered.
The Brazilians have played five friendlies since their fourth-place finish at the World Cup, against the talented likes of Colombia and Argentina, winning all five and not conceding a single goal in the process—per SoccerWay.
Dunga, who took the reins from former manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, has turned Brazil from a laughing stock into a force to be reckoned with, summed up by their 4-0 triumph in Turkey on 12 November.
The visitors completely dominated the match going forward and showed the kind of defensive solidity that evaded them during the World Cup at the back.
However, one thing remained a constant from the summer tournament—the brilliance of Neymar.
The Barcelona man helped himself to two goals in Turkey, continuing his phenomenal run in the international shirt—as barcastuff’s statistics reveal:
"Neymar has scored 7 of the 12 goals scored by BRA in their five matches since the World Cup #fcblive [via weloba]
— barcastuff (@barcastuff) November 16, 2014"
The 22-year-old has been electric since the turn of 2014, and he recently said that while he’s very much in his prime, the best is yet to come—per ESPN FC:
"I think I'm going through the best moment of my career. But I don't want to stop here. I want to keep getting better and better."
Neymar is likely to line-up in an unchanged side in Vienna, with Luiz Adriano as his partner in crime up front.
While Austria need to be wary of Dunga’s star-studded outfit, they’ll fancy their chances of having a big say on proceedings themselves based on their recent form.
Marcel Koller’s side have been is outstanding form throughout the year, and are still yet to taste a defeat in 2014, per SoccerWay.
Three wins and a draw from their opening four Euro 2016 qualifying matches have put Austria in a great position to qualify for a major tournament for the first time (apart from being a host nation) since 1998.
Playing Brazil, then, will be the perfect test for Koller’s men to see if they’re up to the task of producing the goods on the big stage, and in Rubin Okotie they have a striker in form.
The 27-year-old has scored Austria’s last two goals in respective 1-0 victories over Montenegro and Russia, with his strike against the Russians on Saturday clearly meaning a lot to him—per European Qualifiers:
Okotie will look to unsettle the Brazilian defence with his energetic movement, and if anyone can end the visitors’ five-game clean sheet streak, then it’s the Pakistan-born striker.
That said, Brazil have proved under Dunga that they’re no longer a team of individuals, but a unit, and they’ll undoubtedly enjoy putting on a show in Austria.
With Neymar firing on all cylinders and the rest of the side in good form, it’s hard to see anything other than a routine Brazil win.
Prediction: Austria 0-2 Brazil
