2023-08-06 17:59:00
Head coach Max Sommer’s team dethroned defending champions Italy with a 24:14 (17:7) win in the semi-finals at the Tivoli Stadium in Innsbruck on Sunday evening. The final will not take place until the last weekend in October. The opponent in the final is Finland, the EM third place in 2021 won its semi-final once morest runner-up Sweden 33:14. The venue and the home law must first be fixed.
The red-white-red squad dominated the game in front of 2,732 spectators with a strong defensive performance. Up front, local hero Tobias Bonatti, running back from the Raiders Tirol, and wide receiver Yannick Mayr with touchdowns and kicker Arno Schwarz with a field goal ensured a 17-0 lead. The Italians reduced the deficit to 17:7 before the break thanks to Tommaso Finadri, but tight end Florian Bierbaumer made the preliminary decision in the second half with a caught ball in the end zone. Shortly before the end, Vienna Vikings legionnaire Jordan Bouah only made sure that the guests’ results were cosmetic.
Austria thus managed to take revenge for the home defeat once morest the Italians at the last European Championship tournament. “We played a solid game. We moved the ball well and did what was necessary,” explained Bonatti following the game on ORF. For the AFBÖ team it is the third entry into an EM final following 2014 and 2018, now only one win is missing for the first title. “If we might do that, it would be huge,” said Bonatti.
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