After last week’s trek out to the edge of the universe the 20-minute drive to Maxglan was like stealing sweets from toddlers. However, walking towards the ground I could see queues of people 30-deep at both of the ticket windows, which you might think was normal but we are talking about the Austrian regional 4th division. There are 2nd division games in Austria that struggle to attract 1000 spectators and you tend to queue longer for a beer than for a ticket. These days seem to have gone for home games as when I finally got to the window I was informed that there was no more room in the grandstand for the home fans, so I plumped for standing room near to the scoreboard at the other side of the pitch.
This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the sun was warm enough to make it a t-shirt affair, so I grabbed a beer and got a place right on the hoardings at the side of the pitch. Watching from the grandstand you get a better overall view of the game, but when you’re right next to the action at pitch level you see the skill, sweat and brutality at close quarters; it’s also where the armchair managers usually like to stand – blokes who played a bit of football thirty years ago and who talk in unending chains of clichés:
‘Well that’s how the younger generations play the game nowadays’…, ‘Whatever happened to the midfield generals – the whole game’s too fast’…, ‘If you don’t score goals, you can’t win games’…, ‘It’s not football anymore; it’s all just bang, bang, bang’…
To my left was the Zell am See bench and coaching zone; home to last year’s fashion sell-offs and curiosities like centre-partings, not seen in England since the seventies (for normal people) or eighties/nineties (for heavy metal fans). However, the centre-partings and bad fashions faded into insignificance in the light of the Zell kit. If Austria Salzburg is a bastion of tradition, then Zell am See is a museum for colours last seen on skiing suits in the eighties. Of all the unbelievably noxious and luminescent colours they could have chosen – kryptonite green (remember Superman), atom bomb yellow (Chelsea away), poison pink… the final choice made was ‘dustbin man orange’.
This ‘garbage collector orange’ colour is worn by municipal sanitary technicians all over the world as it seems to be the best colour to wear for collecting a city’s garbage; why, I don’t know. It is a colour that makes dogs aggressive, kills appetites, causes impotence, temporary blindness and is responsible for thousands of road accidents every year. As if that wasn’t enough the shirts had a fake streak of mud (or something similar) printed onto one side of the chest, so the players already looked absolutely filthy when they ran out onto the pitch. So with the teams lined up next to each other the first points for aesthetic merit were already in the bag and as the game got underway on a damp pitch, after a few tackles it was hard to say which mud stains were real and which had been put there by design.
From the off Austria Salzburg held the balance of play without making anything tell. Zell were limited to tactics I’ve seen a million times before, attacks on the break. Not that there weren’t other chances for the Zell players, but most of the danger seemed to come from high and low balls in the back of the Austria defence. The chances were there for Zell’s Uzo Uba, but somehow as he failed to get the ball into a clear shooting position there were a number of funny falls and tentative looks towards the referee, who had the game well under control – as did the Austria for the most part.
After 10 minutes a foul led to a free kick for Lubo Neubauer and from my vantage point with Lubo and the keeper in my line of sight the ball curled away beautifully out of the reach of Marco Schwab to make it 1-0 for Austria Salzburg and get me bashing that metal hoarding and scaring the woman from Zell am See standing next to me. Although it was early doors it was a just reward for the Austria’s dominance and I had a good feeling about the rest of the game.
The pattern of play continued and although Cavic got behind the defence a number of times on the left, and Feldinger got the ball into the box from the right on several occasions, nobody seemed to be able to connect properly. A little later Zell looked to be back in it when the linesman or referee took about 15 seconds to disallow a goal for offside. Maybe we were just lucky and it looked like we’d be spending half-time with a meagre 1-0. Or at least it looked that way until Zell got the defence in trouble again and a hard ball came into the middle from the left on 42 minutes and Peter Urbanek skewed the ball into his own net. 1-1 and an own goal that says more about Peter Urbanek’s work rate than anything else. Urbanek was all over the pitch, backing up attacks and tracking back to his defensive home – a classic case of an unsung hero.
Austria fans saw teams equalise so often last year and are not easily scared. Last year we got away with murder and had more lucky wins than a Thai betting ring. The difference this year is that the team can move up a gear if they get a kick up their arses, which is exactly what happened. This year’s Austria also looks good under pressure and with a functioning midfield attacks come from all over the pitch. With the adrenaline levels moved up, pressure down the left led to Zarko Cavic grabbing the ball just inside the penalty area to set up Oliver Schmidt perfectly on 44 minutes to send Austria Salzburg in 2-1 up at the break.
At half time Drax and Hannes came over from the grandstand to join me in the sun, bringing a shandy with them for good measure (well, I am 43). As the second half began the two coaches in the Zell am See coaching zone continued their double act, dancing around and throwing their arms in the air, turning away in disgust, twisting round to face each other like manic synchronised swimmers. The fact was, very early on in the season it was dawning on them that they would probably not be going up to the Westliga (3rd division) next year. As the frustration started creeping in a further two yellow cards were added to the two in the first half.
Cavic, having played another decisive role, but looking a bit burnt, was replaced by Stefan Leitner on 60 minutes and Nico Mayer was replaced on 74 minutes by Leonhard Telsnig. Zell am See’s answer was to bring on a spitting image of Joey Kelly. (Joey who?). It would take too long to explain but it provided a source of amusement for a couple of minutes.
Another difference to last year was that going forward the moves were looking rehearsed and well thought-out. Passes were reaching their intended destinations. Passes to the man running on were being reached and one-twos and one-two-three pass combinations weren’t just flashy play anymore. Heli Rottensteiner looks out of his depth in the air and may not have the lungs or range of a racehorse like Peter Urbanek, but he played a number of neat opening passes and won the ball back in a couple of crucial situations. He also combined well with Neubauer, Mayer and Federer. And it was an as ever hard-working Stefan Federer who got his just reward on 77 minutes. At 3-1 Zell never looked likely to get more than a consolation goal; and with this in mind Kopleder was brought on for the brilliant Lubo Neubauer, who was duly roared off the pitch by a highly appreciative home crowd before the game eventually fizzled out on 90 minutes. Another stylish win for Austria Salzburg, even without Bernd Winkler.
Maybe on the downside you could say we conceded yet another goal, but as the saying goes: ‘You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. In football terms that means that to score lots of goals everybody has to push up and support attacking play and press for possession as high up the pitch as possible. Obviously, the price we pay is that any team is good for a couple of goals on a counter-attack, but in view of the class within the team this season it seems to be a price well worth paying. Purists, like myself might say it’s better to win 2-0 than 3-1 or 4-2, but people who go to football for great entertainment (also like myself) have to admit that sport without goals is like chess.
The only colour Zell am See added to the game was on their awful football kits and although we haven’t played FC Hallein or FC Pinzgau Saalfelden yet, the only team with any real class and the only team with a hope in hell of catching Austria Salzburg, is a team we’ve already beaten; Hallwang. Perhaps our biggest enemy could be complacency, but Didi Emich seems to have kicked enough arse in the squad to keep everybody on their toes, and at the moment the future is looking bright – even brighter than a dustbin man’s overalls.
See you in Saalfelden!
Roger Lord
SV Austria Salzburg - FC Zell am See 3-1 (2-1)
Austria Salzburg played with:
Trappl; Urbanek, Schmidt, Pecaranin, Milic; Rottensteiner, Federer, Mayer (68. Telsnig), Feldinger, Neubauer (86. Kopleder); Cavic (60. Leitner)
Goals:
1-0: Neubauer (23., free kick) (Assist: Federer)
1-1: Urbanek (40., own goal)
2-1: Schmidt (42.) (Assist: Cavic)
3-1: Federer (77.) (Assist: Feldinger)
Shots total: Austria 24 / Zell am See 7
Shots on target: Austria 9 / Zell am See 4
Shots blocked: Austria 5 / Zell am See 0
Corners: Austria 12 / Zell am See 4
Fouls: Austria 13 / Zell am See 21
Offsides: Austria 8 / Zell am See 9
Yellow cards:
Austria: 1 (Kopleder, 92./unsporting behaviour)
Zell am See: 6 (Lukic, 18./criticism; Kasper, 35./foul; Fischer, 51./foul; Mühlberger, 63./foul; Resch, 92./unsporting behaviour; Uba, 92./foul
Salzburg, Austria-Sportanlage Maxglan, 1525 spectators
