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Win or Fly: LASK kicks off the Europa League season today with a knockout match against Dunajska Streda (Raiffeisen Arena, 8:30 PM, ORF 1). Will the athletes get free?
LASK has been tight-fisted with hits in the previous two Bundesliga rounds. Against Austria (1: 0) and in Tirol (1: 1), despite the many opportunities, only two achieve: from penalty and free kick. “Our ideas and our concept of the game are working,” said coach Dominik Thalhammer, however. “It’s a matter of time before we get the goals out of the game.” You gain the confidence of your team from the data provided by the “Expected Goals” model: assesses the quality of scoring opportunities. “The fact is that we have a very high expected goal value of 2.7 in the last three games. That means statistically we could have scored three goals per game.” But the value has no value as long as the scoring possibilities are not used.
“We have the best forwards”
So far it only works in training. “We have the best forwards,” Thalhammer said. “When I watch Hussein Balic, Marko Raguz and Andreas Gruber score goals in training, I feel very calm.” Today would be a good opportunity to show your precision in the game. Balic: “We don’t push ourselves too hard. It is important that we create opportunities for ourselves. When the button is opened, the feeling of accomplishment comes.”
We just have to wait, because there are no alternatives due to the injuries of Thomas Goiginger and Mamoudou Karamoko. LASK striker scores for St. Pölten: Alexander Schmidt was awarded immediately after signing and scored two goals against Admira at the weekend. “Maybe with what we knew we would have made a different decision,” Thalhammer admitted.
Fans are missing as drivers
The opponent has no problem scoring goals: Dunajska Streda won all the new competitive games of the season thanks to 32 goals. “We are facing an opponent who is currently in a flow,” Thalhammer said. The LASK one has been gone since the end of the regular season last season. In this particular situation, LASK would have needed the support of the fans. At the Raiffeisen-Arena today, however, there will be silence in the chamber. Without a spectator, LASK lost eight of the twelve games, with only one home win in the Bundesliga championship group. Thalhammer puts it in perspective: “We played a close game in the Europa League against Manchester United and we did very well.”
Win or fly is the starting position for the knockout duel, win and fly is just as correct: today’s promoted player will play away against the winner of the match between Sporting and Aberdeen (9pm CET) next Thursday to pass to the group stage.
Dunajska-Streda-Trainer Storck (gepa)
Bild: GEPA images
“Dunajska Streda would play in the top four in Austria”
LASK has more experience in the European Cup, finished the group stage first, the team has a market value three times that of Dunajska Streda. “It is not an easy game. A lot of people think so, ”said coach Dominik Thalhammer, because the opponent’s name doesn’t sound so good. “Dunajska Streda could certainly play in the top four in Austria.”
The quality can be seen in the clubs in which two top-tier players participated: Andrija Balic was signed by Udinese, captain Zsolt Kalmar, one of the three Hungarian team players in the squad, came from Leipzig. “This is a team that plays very hard and thinks very offensively,” Thalhammer explained. “The strengths this team has could also be the weaknesses.” And these should be used for LASK.
Dunajska Streda coach Bernd Storck wants nothing to do with a match at eye level. Take on the role of an outsider: “We can only win here. Nobody expects anything extraordinary from us ”. However, the German emphasized: “We want to continue living our dream, it doesn’t have to end here.” His young team wants to pick up where it left off in previous games. Captain Kalmar: “We don’t come here with our hands up. We have our own goals and we want to achieve them. “
LASK without spectator
LASK has played 12 times to date on camera. The athletes suffered eight defeats. The only victory at home was in the group of champions against Sturm Graz (4-0).
19 legionaries are in the 27-man team of German coach Bernd Storck. According to transfermarkt.de, the value of the workforce is around 9.2 million euros, about a third of LASK.
7 players of the team have a contract with Dunajska Streda: Captain Zsolt Kalmar, Mate Vida and Andras Schäfer (Hungary), Ion Nicolaescu (Moldova), Cesar Blackman (Panama), Yhoan Andzouana (Congo) and Eric Ramirez (Venezuela).
11 Austrians have served as legionaries in Dunajska Streda so far. Three of them had a LASK past: Richard Wemmer played two games (2009/10) and for Yüksel Sariyar, the Slovak club was the last professional spot in 2010. Goalkeeper Bartolomej Kuru (2010) only played a reserve role. Austrians Robert Pflug (2004 and 2006/07) and Kurt Garger (2009/10) appointed Dunajska Streda as coaches.
Article of
Günther Mayrhofer
