The Austrian season is currently on a lengthy winter break that ends on February 22nd, 2003. Many teams in the first and second divisions are participating in a couple of indoor tournaments during this period. The first half of the season has Austria Wien leading by an impressive 13 points over Pasching and Sturm Graz. Ried and Rapid Wien are 3 points behind them. The latest from the Austrian Bundesliga can be found here: http://www.bundesliga.at
I should have seen that one coming. I spent many a cold night in Switzerland during Dec-Feb. Man it got cold those nights. Thanks for helping me see the stupidity of my question.
Round 22 in Austria this past weekend: FC Kaernten - Austria Memphis [ 1 - 3 ] GAK - Casino Bregenz [ 4 - 1 ] Salzburg - Sturm Graz [ 2 - 1 ] The following had to be postponed to March 12: Pasching - Ried Rapid Wien - Admira Moedling Austria Memphis continues to expand its lead (now 16 points), and things aren't looking promising for the rest of the pack.
Vielen Dank. I had forgotten about the other Bundesliga. Glad to see most of the league back in action. Austria Memphis is making Bayern's lead look trivial.
Round 23 in Austria: Austria Memphis wasn't overly impressive but secured the three points against Salzburg and continues to lead by 16 points. Second-place Pasching also won. At the other end of the table, Admira Moedling beat Casino Bregenz. Those teams swapped the bottom two places. The biggest result was at Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium in Graz where the two teams from Graz met. On-fire GAK pounded Sturm Graz 5-0. Austria Memphis - Salzburg [ 1 - 0 ] Sturm Graz - GAK [ 0 - 5 ] Admira Moedling - Casino Bregenz [ 1 - 0 ] Ried - Rapid Wien [ 0 - 0 ] FC Kaernten - Pasching [ 0 - 1 ]
Thanks for picking up the slack fellas. I'm snowed under at the moment, but I'll start posting again here regularly in a couple of weeks.
Round 24 in Austria: Rapid Wien and Austria Memphis continue the biggest Austrian rivalry later today. The two Viennese teams meet for the 232nd time. In other results, second-place Pasching only earned a point, leaving the door open for Austria Memphis to extend its 16-point lead. GAK (fourth place) continues its series of excellent results with a 2-0 win over Ried. Crosstown rivals Sturm Graz (third place) also won 2-0 this weekend. Highlight of the weekend was the opening event in the new artificial-surface stadium in Salzburg (Stadion Wals-Siezenheim). A sellout crowd of 18,500 watched the home team draw 1-1 with FC Kaernten. It was a record attendance for Salzburg. Salzburg - FC Kaernten [ 1 - 1 ] Pasching - Admira Moedling [ 0 - 0 ] GAK - Ried [ 2 - 0 ] Casino Bregenz - Sturm Graz [ 0 - 2 ] Rapid Wien - Austria Memphis [ later today ] Also, Wednesday is the make-up date for the postponed Round 22 matches (Rapid Wien - Admira Moedling, Pasching - Ried).
Rapid Wien and Austria Memphis tied 1-1 in what was reportedly a pretty good game. Ivanschitz scored for Rapid in the 10th minute, while Julio Cesar equalized four minutes later. Austria played the last half hour down a man after Hasek got his marching orders. Thus, this week saw no change to their 16-point lead in the Bundesliga.
One of the coaches was saying he sees no future for it. I don't know exactly what kind of a surface it was, but it looks like astroturf from the video clips at bundesliga.at. Good week attendance-wise: over 15,000 at the Vienna derby and 18.5 K in Salzburg.
Round 25 in Austria: Well, only one of the two Round 22 make-up matches took place on Wednesday. But it was an important one as second-place Pasching won convincingly. Pasching - Ried [ 3 - 0 ] The newly-promoted side then went on to win at Austria Wien in a battle of the top two teams. Pasching cut Austria Wien's lead from 16 to 10 points in one week. Probably too little too late, but still makes the final stretch a bit more interesting. At the other end of the table, Casino Bregenz won to hand last place back to Admira Moedling. Like Salzburg's first match in its new stadium, the second one also ended 1-1. The crowd did not stay the same, though, as it shrunk from 18,500 to 10,000. However, the good news is that Salzburg was the first team to keep GAK from earning the full three points since the break. Austria Wien - Pasching [ 0 - 1 ] FC Kaernten - Rapid Wien [ 1 - 0 ] Ried - Casino Bregenz [ 1 - 3 ] Salzburg - GAK [ 1 - 1 ] Sturm Graz - Admira Moedling [ 2 - 1 ]
Round 26 in Austria: After beating Austria Wien at home and cutting their lead by six points last week, Pasching gave up some ground on the leaders. Pasching lost at home for the first time this season, and Austria Wien's lead is back to 13 points. Red-hot GAK continue to impress. A 3-0 win over FC Kaernten means they pass Sturm Graz and currently sit in third place, only four points behind Pasching. Given their current form, I wouldn't count out GAK to finish second behind Austria Wien. Both of the last place teams, Admira Moedling and Casino Bregenz remain stuck on 24 points after losing at home. While Bregenz lost a close one to Austria Wien, Admira Moedling took a 3-0 pounding by Ried. Pasching - Salzburg [ 0 - 1 ] Casino Bregenz - Austria Wien [ 1 - 2 ] Admira Moedling - Ried [ 0 - 3 ] GAK - FC Kaernten [ 3 - 0 ] Rapid Wien - Sturm Graz [ 1 - 0 ]
Round 27 in Austria: Well, it's not all clear sailing for Austria Wien. They lost their second straight home match--this time to bottom-dwellers Admira Moedling! The Austria Wien management is none too pleased. However, second-place Pasching couldn't gain any ground as they ran into GAK, which continues to be the hottest team in the country and now sits only one point behind Pasching in third place. With their victory, Admira Moedling surrenders last place back to Casino Bregenz. On another note, apparently last year's now-defunct champions FC Tirol lost the Bundesliga trophy! It's a large silver plate with all the champions since 1974 inscribed on it, and nobody can find the thing. Wonder if they sold it to a pawn shop to cover some of their debts... Austria Wien - Admira Moedling [ 0 - 2 ] GAK - Pasching [ 2 - 0 ] FC Kaernten - Casino Bregenz [ 2 - 2 ] Ried - Sturm Graz [ 2 - 1 ] Salzburg - Rapid Wien [ 2 - 0 ]
Round 28 in Austria: Almost all road wins this week. Austria Wien won at Admira Moedling, making up for last week's home defeat. Nothing's gonna stop 'em. Casino Bregenz also lost at the end of the table and failed to dig themselves out of last place. GAK beat Pasching 2-0 for the second straight week (this time away) and vaulted ahead of them into second place, 14 points behind Austria Wien. Rapid Wien's miserable season continues--they lost at home to Salzburg and now sit in seventh place. Pasching - GAK [ 0 - 2 ] Rapid Wien - Salzburg [ 0 - 2 ] Casino Bregenz - FC Kaernten [ 1 - 2 ] Admira Moedling - Austria Wien [ 1 - 2 ] Sturm Graz - Ried [ 4 - 2 ]
Round 29 in Austria: Thanks, RobtheAggie. I think the fat lady's warming up her vocal chords. Only remaining question is whether they can locate the Bundesliga trophy before Austria Wien has officially locked up the championship! With seven matches left, the two interesting races are for the second Champions League spot (GAK and Pasching currently tied) and for the relegation spot (Admira Moedling currently three points ahead of Casino Bregenz). GAK has been awesome so far this year, and my money would be on them. Admira Moedling is getting some results lately (win at Austria Wien, tie at GAK), and they seem determined to stay up. Now there's a team that seems to be in a relegation battle every year! And with Pasching's 3-0 drubbing of Rapid Wien, the club with the most championships in Austrian history is officially reeling. Through eight matches this year, they've only scored two goals! Pasching - Rapid Wien [ 3 - 0 ] Salzburg - Casino Bregenz [ 4 - 1 ] GAK - Admira Moedling [ 1 - 1 ] FC Kaernten - Sturm Graz [ 3 - 1 ] Austria Wien - Ried [ 2 - 0 ]
Yeah, Tirol's financial collapse saved Admira Moedling from going down last year. I seem to recall that in the past there were two potential relegations. The last-place Bundesliga team definitely went down while the Div. 1 winner was promoted. However, the team in ninth place in the Bundesliga had to play a two-game series against the Div. 1 runner-up to see which one would be a Bundesliga team. I don't believe this scheme is still in place, though. Mattersburg is looking pretty good for promotion from Div. 1 this year. As a side note, they managed to beat GAK this year (in the Austrian Cup)--something no Bundesliga team can claim!