{"id":521520,"date":"2026-07-02T11:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/521520\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T11:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:21:16","slug":"spain-vs-austria-world-cup-round-of-32-preview-predictions-team-news-world-cup-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/521520\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain vs Austria: World Cup Round of 32 \u2013 Preview, predictions, team news | World Cup 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five wins to go. How can your team reach the final and win World Cup 2026? Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to find out.<\/p>\n

Who: Spain vs Austria
What:\u00a0FIFA World Cup 2026<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 round of 32
Where: Los Angeles Stadium, Los Angeles, US
When: Thursday, July 2, at noon (19:00 GMT)
How to follow: We will have all the build-up on\u00a0Al Jazeera Sport<\/a> from 16:00 GMT before our live text commentary stream.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

After arriving at the World Cup as one of the favourites, Spain have made a relatively low-key start to the tournament.<\/p>\n

A shock 0-0 draw with Cape Verde was followed by a 4-0 rout of Saudi Arabia before an attritional victory over Uruguay.<\/p>\n

But Spain coach Luis de la Fuente maintains his team are on an upward curve and are exactly where they want to be, as they reach the business end of the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis squad is used to breaking records and overcoming rough patches; we are determined to keep moving forward,\u201d de la Fuente said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Ralf Rangnick\u2019s Austria are making their first World Cup knockout appearance since 1954 after finishing runners-up in Group J.<\/p>\n

Austria scored six goals \u2060in three group-stage matches, one more than Spain, but Rangnick acknowledges his side will need to raise their level against a team unbeaten in 34 matches stretching back to March 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know \u2060that we need to do even better tomorrow. Against Spain this is obvious,\u201d Rangnick said. \u201cWe have to make one \u2060further step.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victor will face either Portugal or Croatia in the last 16.<\/p>\n

La Roja ready to raise the bar against Austria<\/p>\n

De la Fuente told reporters to expect to see improvements in his team\u2019s performance after their sluggish World Cup start.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I am seeing this week \u200cis that the team is beginning to recognise\u201d things to fix, the coach said.<\/p>\n

De la Fuente dismissed \u2060concerns about the enormous expectations weighing on his squad from Spanish supporters, despite the team\u2019s early World \u2060Cup exits following their 2010 triumph.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love \u2060that it is demanded of us, because a lot is expected of us and what we have to do is respond to that expectation,\u201d de la Fuente said.<\/p>\n

Rangnick says stopping Lamine Yamal key<\/p>\n

Rangnick said football fans around the world love \u2060watching Lamine Yamal \u2060play, but stopping the Spain winger from showcasing his talent will be one of his side\u2019s top priorities in the World Cup round \u2060of 32 on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Spain have eased the 18-year-old back into action after he tore a hamstring in April, limiting him to 141 minutes over the \u2060three group games, during which he scored once \u2013 but now say he is ready to play as much as required.<\/p>\n

\u201cLamine Yamal is an excellent player, and he will be for the next 12, 13 or 14 years, maybe even longer,\u201d Rangnick told reporters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he stays healthy and keeps a straight head on \u200chis shoulders, he can play a lot of matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is one of the players we will watch very closely tomorrow, not to give him a lot of room or too many opportunities to start his dribbling actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a player that all football fans, no matter where they are from, love to watch. But it is our task tomorrow to let him have \u2060the ball as little as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Spain'sYamal celebrates after scoring his side\u2019s opening goal against Saudi Arabia [Erik S Lesser\/AP]How did Spain and Austria reach the round of 32?<\/p>\n

Spain were the winners of Group H with seven points. Here\u2019s a list of their results:<\/p>\n

Austria were runners-up of Group J with four points. Here\u2019s a list of their results:<\/p>\n

Spain vs Austria prediction<\/p>\n

Opta\u2019s supercomputer has calculated a 70.6 percent probability of Spain winning this fixture in regulation time, while Austria is assessed a 12.2 percent chance of victory.<\/p>\n

The probability of going to extra time is 17.3 percent.<\/p>\n

Spain vs Austria: Kickoff time, TV channel
\nSpain: DAZN Mundial (9pm, Central European Summer Time)
\nAustria: ServusTV, ServusTV On (9pm, Central European Summer Time)
\nUnited Kingdom: BBC One, BBC iPlayer (8pm, British Summer Time)
\nUSA: FOX, FOX One, Telemundo App, Telemundo Network, Peacock (3pm, Eastern Daylight Time)<\/p>\n

To check the TV listings for your country, head to FIFA\u2019s TV listing schedule\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"AustriaAustria fans at the 2026 World Cup [Juan Mabromata\/AFP]Who will the winner face in the round of 16?<\/p>\n

The winner of the Spain vs Austria match will face either Portugal or Croatia in the last 16.<\/p>\n

Spain vs Austria: head-to-head<\/p>\n

Spain are unbeaten in their last five matches against Austria (W4 D1), winning each of the last two by four-goal margins.<\/p>\n

Their most recent meeting dates back to 2009, when Spain thrashed Austria 5-1, with a young David Alaba making a strong impression in a 25-minute cameo off the bench.<\/p>\n

Spain, however, will be wary of their Austrian opponents, having lost their last World Cup meeting 2-1 in 1978.<\/p>\n

Spain vs Austria: Team news<\/p>\n

Yeremi Pino (collarbone) and Nico Williams (hamstring) are out injured for Spain, while Victor Munoz (muscle) is doubtful.<\/p>\n

No injuries or suspensions in the Austria camp.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s predicted lineup<\/p>\n

(4-3-3): Simon (goalkeeper); Llorente, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella; Pedri, Rodri, Ruiz; Yamal, Oyarzabal, Baena<\/p>\n

Austria\u2019s predicted lineup<\/p>\n

(4-2-3-1): Schlager (goalkeeper); Posch, Lienhart, Alaba, Mwene; Seiwald, Schlager; Laimer, Sabitzer, Schmid; Arnautovic<\/p>\n

\"Austria'sAustria\u2019s forward, Marko Arnautovic, is their leading scorer in the tournament with two goals [Juan Mabromata\/AFP]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five wins to go. How can your team reach the final and win World Cup 2026? Click\u00a0here\u00a0to find…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[8247,63,4118,85,46,43,2727,2224,105,101640],"class_list":["post-521520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-austria","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-spain","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}