With a new chest sponsor (Frankstahl) and the positive results of 0: 3 in Salzburg, Wiener Austria is looking for the first points at the start of the Bundesliga season at home on Sunday. Austria investor Jürgen Werner, who piloted a quartet with a LASK past to favorites in the summer, brings additional explosiveness. Also from 5 p.m. the WSG Tirol Hartberg welcomes and Rapid is a guest at the Klagenfurt Austria.
Marko Raguz, Andreas Gruber and James Holland, as well as former LASK player Reinhold Ranftl, who is on loan from Schalke, have been under contract with Wiener Austria since this season. Without Mastermind Werner, LASK could hardly have achieved its current position, now the Upper Austrian is pulling his strings in the interests of Austria. Austria coach Manfred Schmid emphasized that there was no benefit to be gained from this for the game: “I don’t think there will be mutual exchanges about how the individual clubs will perform.”
“We know that a really good team is coming”, Schmid looked forward to the task. “There will be a lot of spectators, our fans will carry us.” Of course, that alone shouldn’t be enough against a LASK, who only had to be chalked up to one thing in the 3-1 win over Austria Klagenfurt: that they had “turned off” too early after the 3-0. “They were very, very present and played a really good game. But we will challenge them and want to win,” stressed Schmid. “I am very confident.”
LASK trainer Didi Kühbauer warned of the opponent, who could already be beaten by nine points – the sanctioned Austria is still down three. “Austria have had a very strong season and showed in the opening match against Salzburg that they are a force to be reckoned with again this year,” said the Burgenlander. “We’ll have to show a very good game to survive. Our goal is to go home with points.” Kühbauer has to do without midfield director Peter Michorl, who has been suspended for two games after his wild foul against Klagenfurt.
After the promotion in the European Cup on Thursday against Lechia Gdansk, SK Rapid wants to improve in the Bundesliga. On Sunday, the guest appearance at Austria Klagenfurt in the “28 Black Arena”, the former Wörthersee stadium, is on the program. While the Viennese are unbeaten in the young season (three wins, one draw with only one goal conceded in four competitive games), coach Peter Pacult’s team would like to score their first league points.
The Green-Whites have been unbeaten against Klagenfurt in the Bundesliga for almost 26 years. However, since the 1-0 away defeat in October 1986, there have only been nine meetings, resulting in six wins and three draws for the team from the west of Vienna. Coach Ferdinand Feldhofer’s team would like to continue this series on Sunday. “Of course we definitely want to make the next three, because then it would be a really good start to the season,” emphasized Feldhofer. Due to the pressure of the European Cup, the Rapid coach will rotate in the starting line-up.
The fact that the game is taking place as planned and does not have to be postponed due to Rapid’s international commitment provided relief in Klagenfurt. “We are very happy that our match will be played on Sunday. After the defeat at the start at LASK (1:3), our team is dying to get it straight again in round two,” explained SKA Sport Managing Director Matthias Imhof. Coach Pacult was relaxed in view of the defeat at the start. “We have to leave the church in the village, it was the first game for everyone. Rapid also found it difficult to get going against Ried. Everyone has to find their rhythm in the championship first.”
After a painful 1:2 defeat against newly promoted Lustenau, the WSG Tirol wants to score full points in the second round. “We flogged ourselves in Lustenau,” said coach Thomas Silberberger, who continues to have confidence in his team. His players have “an extremely good spirit”, which should lead to success again against TSV Hartberg on Sunday. Because Wattens has been unbeaten against the Oststeirer since February 23, 2021.
“We won’t have as many chances against Lustenau as we had against Lustenau. That’s why the defeat hurts a lot,” said central defender Raffael Behounek. Silberberger made a similar statement. “I was satisfied with the performance. Only what we performed around both penalty areas was the decisive reason why we went home with zero points,” said the head coach, whose team was unbeaten against Hartberg last season. Wattens won both away games 1-0, there was a win and a draw at the Tivoli Stadium. With a win, the series should now be continued.
Hartberg made a successful start last week with a 2-1 win at home against Altach. “We played a very good first half, but in the second half we didn’t show the clarity and aggressiveness to play the game confidently,” coach Klaus Schmidt was not entirely satisfied. During the week they adjusted to the opponent from Tyrol. “We know that a completely different game awaits us,” said Schmidt. “They are very aggressive and play very quickly up front.” Donis Avdijai, who scored the first two goals, could fail as he sustained an ankle injury in the match and was hardly able to train.