Seeking to conclude their Austrian training camp unbeaten, Cardiff City square off with German outfit Hertha Berlin on Thursday evening in St. Johann in Tirol.
Erol Bulut's men lost their friendly winning streak in a 1-1 draw against Mamelodi Sundowns on Tuesday, while the 2. Bundesliga outfit were 1-0 victors over NEC Nijmegen on July 20.
Match preview
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Having dusted off the cobwebs in their shock 1-0 friendly loss to Kidderminster Harriers, Cardiff were on the friendly warpath leading up to Tuesday's tie with the Sundowns, firing in a staggering 13 goals in three exhibition contests from July 13 to 21.
Following a trio of straight successes over KV Kortrijk (3-1), Pen-y-bont (7-1) and Hamburger SV (3-0), Erol Bulut's men wore the favourites tag for their midweek battle with Mamelodi Sundowns, the reigning South African champions.
However, the Bluebirds lost their victorious sequence in a low-key 1-1 draw, where Joel Colwill - whose own goal handed Kidderminster their slender win earlier this summer - broke the deadlock before Tashreeq Matthews restored parity at the Sportzentrum in Worgl.
Both sides had chances to nick the friendly spoils in the closing 15 minutes, but Cardiff were ultimately forced to settle for their first stalemate of an unrelenting summer period, where Bulut's side are in action no fewer than eight times.
Thursday's contest represents the Bluebirds' closing in act in Austria, after which they will tackle crisis club Reading at their Cardiff City Stadium headquarters on July 31, before visiting Bristol Rovers on August 3 in their final pre-season encounter.
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As Cardiff bring an end to their Austrian training camp, Hertha Berlin bring an end to their pre-season as a whole on Thursday, and the new manager bounce has been in full effect for the side now led by former Nuremberg boss Cristian Fiel.
Six summer matches have brought five wins and a draw for the second-tier German side, whose bid for a return to the Bundesliga last season ended in abject failure; the Old Lady could only place ninth in the 2. Bundesliga, although they did reach the DFB-Pokal quarter-finals.
Hertha - whose Olympiastadion home hosted the Euro 2024 final between Spain and England - kicked off pre-season in sterling form with successive victories over a quartet of German minnows in FSV Bernau, Rot-Weiss Erfurt, SV Babelsberg and FSV Zwickau, scoring 18 goals and shipping just one in the process.
A 2-2 stalemate with Energie Cottbus - where they threw away a two-goal advantage in the second half - brought them crashing back down to earth somewhat, but Fiel's men responded in ideal fashion on Saturday, edging out NEC courtesy of Haris Tabakovic's 16th-minute effort.
That contest was not your conventional 90-minute affair, though - the friendly was split into four quarters of 30 minutes apiece - and speaking of the out-of-the-ordinary, one half of Fiel's team will also battle Huddersfield Town a few hours before the battle with Cardiff.
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Team News
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A total of 20 Cardiff troops earned valuable minutes in Tuesday's draw with the South African champions, where Joel Colwill and Malachi Fagan-Walcott were the only two players to complete the full 90 minutes.
With only two days of recovery time in between contests, neither man should be named in the first XI on Thursday, while defender Ryotaro Tsunoda is still on the mend from a torn muscle.
Neither Calum Chambers nor Chris Willock were involved in the draw with Mamelodi Sundowns, but the two new arrivals might be involved on Thursday as Bulut refreshes his resources.
Regarding Hertha, it remains to be seen which half of players will be selected for the Huddersfield encounter and who will be summoned for Cardiff, but Hungary's Marton Dardai is available once more following his Euro 2024 exploits with Hungary.
However, neither Fabian Reese nor new midfield signing Kevin Sessa were involved in the win over NEC; the former is nursing an ankle injury, while the former joined from Heidenheim with a knee concern.
Ex-Napoli midfielder Diego Demme - a 2022-23 Serie A title winner - should start at the base of the engine room, but former Everton right-back Jonjoe Kenny has not been involved in pre-season.
Cardiff City possible starting lineup:
Horvath; Chambers, Goutas, McGuinness, Collins; Siopis, Rinomhota, King; Tanner, Davies, R. Colwill
Hertha Berlin possible starting lineup:
Ernst; Eitschberger, Leistner, Kempf, Karbownik; Bouchalakis, Demme, Maza; Winkler, Tabakovic, Christensen
We say: Cardiff City 1-1 Hertha Berlin
With Cardiff only having two days to recuperate from their last engagement and Hertha competing in two friendlies in the space of a few hours, there are many uncertainties to Thursday's friendly.
The two outfits appear relatively evenly-matched on paper, though, and regardless of the personnel selected, we can envisage a share of the spoils here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
