Ironically, the fate of Admira in sport will be decided against Dietmar Kühbauer’s team on Friday. Kühbauer led Admira to the Bundesliga in 2011 when he first started as head coach in professional football. The people from the south of town have played a very good role there in recent years and even managed to qualify for the European Cup. In the end it was mostly a fight against relegation until the last lap and that’s the same this year.
“We could have made everything clear weeks ago, but we gambled away our good starting position with poor performances,” defensive boss Stephan Zwierschitz recently quarreled with his team’s downward trend after the bitter 0:3 home defeat against Altach. The Vorarlbergers are only two points away as the last and could overtake Admira with a home win against Tirol on Friday. Should Hartberg end in a draw against Ried, even one point would not be enough for the Lower Austrians.
A game with real final character
LASK probably needs a win against Admira to reach the semi-finals of the European Cup play-offs against Tirol. In this case, Admira would be second-class again after eleven years in the upper house. Coach Andreas Herzog (in the picture at the top) doesn’t want to let it get that far. “It means keeping a cool head and going into the game positively,” demanded the ÖFB record team player. Herzog is hoping for an exceptional performance from his team. “We have to surpass ourselves against LASK and deliver an outstanding performance. Then anything is possible.”
The people from the south of town are considered to be the clear outsiders and have not won against the Upper Austrians in eleven games, but Herzog exuded confidence. “LASK has a good team, but is not invulnerable. It is up to us. It will be important that we are effective in front of goal.” Andreas Leitner spoke of a “big showdown. Unfortunately, we left a very good starting position, but we’re going to Pasching with a two-point lead and will do everything in our power to get the game going well,” emphasized the goalie.
Kühbauer can seal Admira descent
Admira has not won the last four matches, and LASK has been waiting for a complete success for three rounds. Since the change of coach from Andreas Wieland to Dietmar Kühbauer, there have been draws against Hartberg and Ried. According to Kühbauer, he saw promising approaches in these games, and now the first three should work. “We’re in the fortunate position of being in a good position with a win,” said the Burgenlander.
The 51-year-old led Admira to the Bundesliga in 2011. Two years later he won with the Südstadters in the last round at SV Mattersburg and thus sent his home club into the second division. Now he could seal the relegation of another of his former clubs. “It’s not nice when a team makes their way down to the lower league and it’s not nice when we are the trigger, but we want to put in a good game. One has to go – we will see who then,” said Kühbauer.