Last season’s third-placed team beat TSV Hartberg 2-1 (1-0) on Saturday. Philipp Ziereis (29th) and new signing Melayro Bogarde (57th) deservedly put Linz ahead before the blue-whites were able to reduce the deficit again through Dominik Prokop (60th). But Hartberg was unable to do more. LASK will continue next week with a home game against Altach, while Hartberg will face a difficult away match against champions Sturm Graz.
LASK will be visiting TSV Hartberg for the opening match, Blau-Weiß Linz will be hosting Wiener Austria and SV Ried will be starting their “Mission Promotion” in Stripfing.
Adjusted during the summer break
LASK made adjustments during the summer break after a strong finish in the previous season. Coach Thomas Darazs could only rely on one new player in Eastern Styria, Dutch right-back Bogarde. Jerome Boateng has only recently started training after problems with his adductor muscles, and Maximilian Entrup (knee), who matured into a team player at Hartberg last year, is not yet match fit. Hrvoje Smolcic was injured in training and was also unavailable in central defense. The Linz team was still able to field a strong eleven around captain Robert Zulj and immediately put their stamp on the game.
Hartberg was often behind. The home team, which had undergone major changes in the summer, had four new signings, including Salzburg loanee Justin Omoregie, attacking players Nelson Amadin and Patrik Mijic, and homegrown Fabian Wilfinger (20) in central defence. “The truth is on the pitch,” said Markus Schopp before kick-off when asked about his assessment of his team’s performance. The guests, who were confident on the ball, were initially impressive.
Warning shot after 10 minutes
Moses Usor fired the first warning shot. The Linz attacker hit the post in the 10th minute after Hartberg’s Paul Komposch made a mistake in the build-up play. After a quarter of an hour, the Styrian team were also in the game. Goalkeeper Raphael Sallinger found the committed Donis Avdijaj with a long ball, who shook off Bogarde but was unable to beat Tobias Lawal in the LASK goal (17th).
Matchplan: The OÖN football broadcast with an analysis of the season opener
There was a short break in play after Linz fans were negative about the choice of bright pink away jerseys, which included pyrotechnics and banners. LASK came back better and struck. After a corner, the athletes kept the pressure on, and Valon Berisha’s cross was headed into the net by Ziereis. Hartberg’s foul complaints brought nothing. LASK remained safe until half-time and almost scored again. In injury time, Marin Ljubicic got past Sallinger, but Wilfinger cleared the Croatian’s shot from a tight angle off the line.
LASK remained confident after the break and seemed to have made the preliminary decision after just under an hour. Bogarde scored after Sallinger had let a Zulj free kick bounce forward. Schopp reacted with a triple substitution and took Omoregie, Mijic and Amadin off the field. The reaction was immediate. A bad pass from George Bello left Linz’s back line disorganized, and substitute Maximilian Fillafer served Prokop, who scored successfully.
Hartberg once again sensed a chance to score, but Prokop failed to get a strong ball control but Lawal’s foot save saved the ball (74′). Schopp went for more offense, but his team was unable to force the “lucky punch”.
