Austria Wien and WAC separate goalless after a match with few chances
Vienna Austria lost their first-time lead in the football Bundesliga season just one round later. Coach Stephan Helm's team could not get past a goalless draw against WAC in the second match of the championship group on Sunday, and was thus overtaken by the title defender Sturm Graz, who had already won 2:0 against Rapid on Friday. The fourth-placed Carinthians are seven points behind the leading duo.
Austria's Goalless Draw Against WAC
For the Viennese, in front of 11,573 spectators, this was the next, albeit significantly smaller setback after the bitter 0:1 exit in the cup semi-final against Hartberg on Wednesday. A series of four consecutive league victories also came to an end. The Carinthians have only collected two points from their last four championship games, but given their entry into the cup final during the week and the fact that they had slightly less of the game, they could probably live with the point a bit better.
There were four changes for Austria compared to the cup exit. Instead of the suspended veteran Aleksandar Dragovic and Lucas Galvao, Tin Plavotic and Johannes Handl joined the team. Philipp Wiesinger took over the Dragovic role in the center. In midfield, Marvin Potzmann replaced the also unavailable Dominik Fitz in the starting lineup. In goal was again the nominal number one, Samuel Sahin-Radlinger. For the Carinthians, there were three fresh forces with Cheick Mamadou Diabate, Boris Matic, and Markus Pink. They were coached on the sidelines by assistant coach Manfred Nastl, as the suspended Dietmar Kühbauer could only watch helplessly from above.
Viennese Tied on Points Behind Sturm Graz After Chance-Poor Match
Both teams met each other on equal terms from the start, with lively back-and-forth play, resulting in many corner kicks, but dangerous goal chances were scarce. Especially the Viennese repeatedly got dangerously into the penalty area before the break, but usually lacked the final pass or the composure in finishing.
Tin Plavotic missed the goal twice (16th, 37th), in between a shot by Nik Prelec was just blocked (22nd). The Wolfsbergers at least hinted at their danger with a header from Chibuike Nwaiwu (17th) and a left-footed shot from Thierno Ballo (41st).
At halftime, WAC striker Pink stayed in the locker room, as he was taken to the hospital due to a head injury. Little changed in the course of the game, the Viennese had a slight upper hand, were more often in the WAC half than vice versa, but a top chance was awaited in vain. The WAC, in turn, only once sniffed at the winning goal, a shot by Maximilian Ullmann was defended at the last moment (65th).
(APA/Red)
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