Austria vs Romania

Austria and Romania are set to trade tackles in a tasty-looking 2026 World Cup qualifier at the Ernst Happel Stadion.

Austria failed to return to the UEFA Nations League’s top table in March, losing 3-1 to Serbia in their two-legged playoff tie. They must dust themselves off and build a head of steam at the start of their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign after failing to reach any of the last six final tournaments! A 2-0 second-leg defeat to Serbia was Austria’s first in six internationals (W3, D2), so it stands to reason they’ll take the field in high spirits. Ralf Rangnick’s men have been in fine scoring form, finding the back of the net in 27 of their last 28 outings. Furthermore, Rangnick already helped ‘Das Team’ qualify for Euro 2024, inspiring hope among Austrian fans that they could cheer for their country at the World Cup finals for the first time since 1998. 

In the meantime, visitors Romania have gone from strength to strength since Mircea Lucescu’s return to the helm in August 2024, securing the Nations League promotion on the back of a 100% win record. Moreover, they’ve enjoyed a decent start to their qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup (W1, L1) and have now bagged 3+ goals in six of their last eight qualifying games for this tournament (W7, L1). However, there’s a psychological barrier Romania must overcome to make the quantum leap, as they’ve not qualified for the World Cup finals in the 21st century. Despite going into this fixture as pre-game outsiders, the Tricolours can take confidence from beating Austria 3-2 in their last away H2H in 2020.