Two years ago, the handball players from HC Linz AG surprisingly made it to the semi-finals, and last year they even made it to the final. “That created a certain level of expectation,” says President Bernhard Ditachmair, summing up the mood around his club.
It is not surprising that before Saturday’s start to the “Best of 3” quarter-finals away against Schwaz (home game on April 30th), people are often evoking the play-off spirit of previous years, when they outgrew themselves as outsiders. Especially since looking at the spring season so far is not very edifying: HC Linz only has one win to its name.
“We played a good championship until December and then this happened to us,” says coach Milan Vunjak, referring to the many injuries. The long-term absences of Moritz Bachmann and goalkeeper Florian Kaiper in particular took a toll on Linz’s defense. Both are fit again.
“Nobody in the club left a trace this spring,” reports manager Uwe Schneider about the many conversations and analyzes between those responsible. “But what has distinguished us over the past few years,” continued Schneider, “is a certain calmness that we have radiated even in critical situations.”
At times there were concerns about falling out of the eight play-off places due to the negative run, before a liberating blow was achieved with the 35:32 in Margareten. “In this game you felt that everyone wanted to get to the quarter-finals. You saw what was possible,” says Kaiper, who was called up to Austria’s national team for the World Cup qualifiers against Georgia (May 9th and 12th).
West Vienna showed it
West Vienna showed how it works against the runners-up in the basic round. The second division team spectacularly defeated Schwaz 29:28 in their home cup final last weekend.
“The Tyroleans are now struggling, they will move even closer together,” said Vunjak. He sees an opportunity in the fact that the pressure on Schwaz not to be able to afford any more slip-ups has increased. It’s different for the Linzers, who can only surprise as seventh in the regular round. Once again.
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Author
Reinhold Pühringer
Sports editor
Reinhold Pühringer
