Czech Republic vs Austria Prediction: Czech Republic hopes to break a run of unsuccessful tournaments

Prediction for the IIHF World Championship Czech Republic vs Austria match which will take place on May 17th. Who will turn out to be stronger? Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available.

The Czech Republic has only managed one medal in the last ten World Championships. That was in 2022 when the Lions won bronze under Kari Jalonen. They were knocked out in the quarter-finals at the 2023 World Championship; after that, the Finnish coach left his post and was replaced by Radim Rulik, now looking for success at home. The Czechs beat the Finns 1:0 on penalties in their first match at the 2024 finals, and the following day, they defeated the Norwegians 6:3. They lost 2:1 on penalties to the Swiss in a shootout, and the day before, they beat the Danes 7:4. The Czechs now sit in second place in Group A.

Austria is one of the most modest teams at the 2024 World Championship, with their main objective being to maintain their place among the world's elite. They have one of the most important games of the tournament on 21 May when they take on Great Britain, but they have already made their mark on World Championship history. In their opening game, they lost 5:1 to the Danes, then put up a decent fight against the Swiss but still lost 5:6. It turned out that the game was just a warm-up for the real thing, as they lost to the Canadians 6:1, but managed to win five pucks in the third period to take the game into overtime, where they still lost 6:7.

At the 2024 World Championship, the Czech Republic hopes to break a run of unsuccessful tournaments in which it finished early without a medal. The Lions have assembled a strong squad for their home World Cup, ready to take on significant challenges. Indeed, the Austrian national team has also produced some impressive results. Still, they are now preparing for survival battles against Norway and Great Britain, so it would be naive to expect them to rip their hearts out in a fight that has nothing in it for them. 

Austria has shown a lack of defensive prowess, but they have been surprisingly productive in attack. Suffice it to say that they scored five times against the Swiss and six against the Canadians. We can expect plenty of goal-scoring action in the upcoming match, and the hosts are not afraid to put on a spectacular display against Group A outsiders: they beat Norway and Denmark 6:3 and 7:4.