Haugesund vs Sturm Graz (Prediction, Preview & Betting Tips) / 25.07.2019

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Haugesund vs Sturm Graz Prediction & Betting tips

2019/20 will be an extremely important year for Austria on the international stage. Thanks to the successes of recent years, the Austrian Bundesliga is even able to flirt with a top ten position in the UEFA five-year standings. Five teams are represented internationally, three of them definitely in an international group stage. With Austria Vienna and SK Sturm Graz, two more teams could ideally follow. First in action are the Blackies from Graz. In the far north there is a duel between the FK Haugesund and Sturm Graz!

However, Austria certainly does not owe the good starting position in the UEFA five-year rating to SK Sturm Graz, which has not been able to collect any positive headlines on the international stage in recent years. Currently there is a spirit of optimism and the chances to finally be able to compete internationally are definitely intact. Already in the first leg in Norway between FK Haugesund and Sturm Graz are according to current odds, the Styrians least favor. The game starts on Thursday at 18 clock.

Haugesund:

Haugesund – a paradox of the German language! Hauen is described in the Duden with the words “beat, beat, hand out punches”. Hitting someone healthy is accordingly a nonsensical claim and thus fulfills the definition of a Parodoxon. In the German language, the city name of the city of just under 38,000 in the south of Norway makes for a bit of a smile. The locally based football club plays international this season for the third time in club history. The first appearances took place in 2014/15 and 2017/18, when the final leg of the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League took place. The team of head coach Jostein Grindhaug survived the first qualifying round relatively easily this year as well. Haugesund prevailed against Northern Ireland’s Cliftonville FC with a 6-1 aggregate score.

Haugesund gained even more confidence between the two games against the Northern Irish side, as the home game against Tromsø was clearly won 5-1. Nevertheless, the situation in the year-round championship in Norway is only partially satisfactory. After 15 matchdays, the team is in the middle of the table (8th place) and already has a respectable backlog of nine points on the table third. A new qualification for Europe is currently a long way off. Despite the three competing wins in a row, the FK Haugesund is certainly not an overpowering opponent. However, the last home games have shown that goals are to be expected.

The social media department of the Norwegians, who asked after getting ahead of Cliftonville via Twitter, made sure that the best Sachertorte in Graz could be bought in Graz. Sturm took the faux pas with humor and referred to the Viennese origin of the Sachertorte.

Sturm Graz:

Speaking of Vienna – through this detour Sturm Graz could only secure the ticket for the Europa League qualification. However, securing is a bit positive, as the Blackies trembled in the Europa League play-offs against SK Rapid Wien. Playfully, the performance was disappointing in both the first and second leg. Despite reaching the goal of the season, Roman Mählich then had to vacate his post and with Nestor El Maestro a sounding name could be presented as successor.

Despite being only 36 years old, El Maestro has a lot of experience as a coach. Already at a young age, he worked with teams like Valencia (youth coach), Schalke, Hannover or HSV (co-coach) before he even moved into the first limb and was able to win the championship in Slovakia with Spartak Trnava. El Maestro pursues a clear philosophy and seems to be a stroke of luck for Sturm Graz. The staid game from the previous year should finally be a thing of the past.

There have not been any big changes in the squad yet. With returning emissary Emanuel Sakic (right-back) and the two storm returnees Christoph Leitgeb (after twelve years) and Thorsten Röcher (on loan from FC Ingolstadt), however, the team could be selectively strengthened. The first competitive game of the new season could win the Blackies 4-1 in the Austrian Cup competition. Due to the upcoming Europa League games El Maestro gave up his best formation. An indicator was the victory against Anif (third division), however, by no means. Nevertheless, on Thursday between Haugesund and Sturm Graz a prognosis on the victory of the Grazer quite an interesting option, the squad is qualitatively certainly a class higher than that of the Norwegians. However, the storm fans are still barking from the previous year’s inferior performance – when AEK Larnaka beat Cypriot side AEK Larnaka – with a 0: 7 total score.