Archive for August, 2022
Der Block und die Emotion
Zitat aus dem lesenswerten Artikel eines Fans nach dem verlorenen Spiel gegen den FC Vaduz und den Rücktritten von Präsident Martin Bruckner und dem Geschäftsführer Wirtschaft, Christoph Peschek:
„Was wir heute erleben, ist doch, dass der Block bestimmt, was bei Rapid zu geschehen hat. Mit einer gewissen Sorge blicke ich daher der Zukunft entgegen, wenn nicht die Rationalität das Handeln bestimmt, sondern die Emotion.“
👉🏻 http://www.ewkil.at/2022/08/rapid-vaduz/
Es wäre gut, die Rücktritte und auch manches andere bei unserem Herzensklub zu überdenken…
Grün-Weiß verliert zweimal!
West Ham ist sicher in die Gruppenphase der Europa Conference League aufgestiegen; nach 3:1 zu Hause auswärts 3:0 gegen Viborg. Aber leider hat Grün-Weiß nicht nur in Dänemark verloren, sondern auch in Wien Hütteldorf!
Rapid hat damit sein „Düdelingen“ / seine „Faröer“-Blamage: durch die 0:1-Heimniederlage nach dem 1:1 auswärts sind die Hütteldorfer gegen den FC Vaduz, einen Klub aus Liechtenstein, der in der Schweizer 2. Liga spielt, ausgeschieden. Und das Ausscheiden war verdient, auch wenn Rapid ca. 60 Minuten mit 10 Mann spielen musste (Rot für Kevin Wimmer wegen einer Notbremse in der 35. Minute).
Das traurige Ende einer langen Reise, die mit den Europacup-Ausscheidungsspielen gegen den LASK begonnen und zwei Qualifikationsrunden und nun das Play-Off gedauert hat! Grün-Weiß hat schlussendlich die Gruppenphase verpasst. Was zuletzt 2018/19 in Didi Kühbauers erster Saison als Rapid-Trainer passierte, ist jetzt auch bei seinem Nachfolger Ferdinand Feldhofer passiert! 😦
A Familiar Result
Two home defeats – against Manchester City and Brighton – each with a 0-2 scoreline, that’s what the West Ham fans have witnessed so far in the London Stadium this season, and West Ham have also lost 0-1 away to newly promoted Nottingham Forest.
David Moyes‘s team lacks form, urgency, commitment and pace, and when Brighton, West Ham‘s bogey team (the “Seagulls” have not lost in 10 Premier League games with West Ham) were 2-0 up after 66 minutes, the Hammers never looked as if they could stage a comeback.
McAllister had put Brighton 1-0 up when he swept home a first-half penalty following a foul on Danny Welbeck by new signing Thilo Kehrer on the edge of the box. Then the Seagulls doubled their lead after 66 minutes with a clinical Leandro Trossard finish on the counter-attack, when Kurt Zouma lost the ball in Brighton‘s half.
West Ham only had some chances at the very end of the game, but a comeback always seemed quite unlikely.
It looks as if West Ham and their new talisman after Mark Noble’s retirement, new skipper Declan Rice who missed a penalty last week, are low on confidence. I now even fear for the return leg in the Conference League play-off: a 3-1 advantage looks good, but who knows …
However, maybe it would be a blessing in disguise if the Hammers were not to play every three or four days because of their engagement in the ECL until the start of the World Cup in November. But on the other hand, it would affect the team’s confidence even more if they were dumped out so early by a Danish minnow…
Anyway, the future of this season doesn’t look very bright for West Ham so far … A relegation fight is a possibility with 0 points and 0 goals from three games … Let’s hope that we won’t have to get even more familiar with this kind of results!
PS: With Manchester Utd sensationally winning 2-1 against Liverpool on Monday, now West Ham are rooted to the bottom of the table until next weekend. :(( Next PL match: Aston Villa away.
👉🏻 What’s going wrong? (post by Goaty Gav, WHTID)
„Eisenfuß“ Egon Pajenk verstorben
Der in den Siebzigerjahren neun Saisonen lang für den Sportclub Rapid spielende Egon Pajenk (72) ist verstorben. Der ob seines kompromisslosen Einsatzes auch als „Eisenfuß“ bezeichnete Verteidiger spielte jahrelang meist als Vorstopper vor Libero Peter Persidis (+2009) und kam auf 322 Einsätze für Grün-Weiß. Pajenk erzielte 20 Tore. Dreimal spielte der Verteidiger im österreichischen Nationalteam.
Der nach langer Krankheit am Freitag Verstorbene war am 28. Juli 72 Jahre alt geworden. Er zählte zu den Stützen der Mannschaft, die in den 70er-Jahren zweimal den ÖFB Cup gewann (1972 und 1976).
Wie zuverlässig Pajenk über viele Jahre verteidigte, zeigen seine insgesamt 322 Pflichtspiele in neun Saisonen. Damit liegt der Defensivspieler in der Liste der meistbeschäftigten Rapid-Spieler zwischen zwei Rapid-Legenden: Alfred Körner kam in 17 Jahren auf 323 Spiele, Goalgetter Franz Binder lief in 19 Jahren 319 mal für Rapid auf.
Rapid schreibt auf seiner Homepage zum Ableben von Egon Pajenk:
„Der SK Rapid möchte auch auf diesem Wege allen Hinterbliebenen seine aufrichtige Anteilnahme aussprechen und wird der verstorbenen grün-weißen Legende im Rahmen des kommenden Pflichtspiels, dem Retourmatch im UEFA Europa Conference League Play-off gegen den FC Vaduz am kommenden Donnerstag (Ankick 21 Uhr im Allianz Stadion) gedenken.“
Aufstellung SK Rapid im ÖFB – Cupfinal-Rückspiel gegen Wacker Innsbruck 1976 (1:0): Helmut Maurer – Emil Krause, Peter Persidis, Egon Pajenk, Rainer Schlagbauer – Erich Lisak(46. Werner Walzer), Gerhard Aichhorn (57. Paul Pawlek), Ernst Dokupil, August Starek – Kurt Widmann, Johann Krankl
Cheftrainer: Robert Körner
“Rapid, die” (Substantiv, f.)
Seit der letzten Hauptversammlung des SK Rapid gibt es einen klaren Auftrag: 95 % der Mitglieder haben dafür gestimmt, dass es möglichst bald ein Rapid-Frauenteam geben soll. Das Präsidium wurde verpflichtet, ein tragfähiges Konzept dafür zu entwickeln.
Der zur Abstimmung gelangte Antrag wurde von der aus Linz stammenden Josefstädterin Clara Gallistl vom Rapid-Fanklub “Vorwärts” eingebracht. Für die Wochenzeitung “Die ZEIT” ist das ein Thema, das man diese Woche sogar auf dem Titelblatt der Österreich-Ausgabe ankündigt. In dem langen, lesenswerten Artikel geht es auch um Frauen beim Fußball allgemein und speziell im “Block West” des Weststadions:
-> www.zeit.de
-> Podcast “Nachspielzeit”
-> Josefstädter Bezirksblatt
First Win of the New Season
And it was an important one for West Ham Utd, with Gianluca Scamacca‘s first goal for the Hammers, converting fellow new boy Maxwel Cornet‘s cross with a smart header (above). Jarrod Bowen added a second goal to the Italian’s first half nod before the Danish side pulled one back. Then Michail Antonio restored the precious two goal lead. Now West Ham have a two goal advantage ahead of the return leg next week and have a brilliant chance to make a European group stage again this season.
SK Rapid should also be in the hat when the groups will be drawn on Friday next week. Although they have only drawn their first leg 1-1 against FC Vaduz with a poor performance (goal: Ferdy Druijf; below), they should be able to play much better in the second leg and to overcome their opponents at home in Vienna on Thursday week.
Come on you Irons and you boys in green!
New Signing: Thilo Kehrer
Das ist West Ham’s Neuer: eine dringende Verstärkung für die Abwehr. Diop wurde kürzlich an Fulham abgegeben, Ogbonna ist noch nicht einsatzfähig und Neuzugang Nagerd hat sich bekanntlich verletzt.
Der deutsche Nationalteamspieler Thilo Kehrer (25) kommt um EUR 12 Mio von PSG. Herzlich willkommen in London und in der Premier League!
Ukraine: Football’s coming back
Ukraine’s football leagues were stopped when Russia’s invasion begann in February 2022, but now half a year into the war, football is going to resume in the country. It is a sign of bravery and confidence that Ukraine will win.
Now, six months into the war, Ukraine is preparing to resume its domestic football competitions – despite the constant danger the ongoing conflict brings.
The BBC has a lengthy article on the topic: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62503419
During Second World War football was also played most of the time: Rapid Vienna won the German Championship with a famous 4:3 (0:2) win over Schalke 04 in Berlin in 1941 (goals: Schors, Binder 3). The final was played in front of 95,000 fans in the Olympic Stadium.
One year earlier West Ham Utd won the 1940 Football League War Cup with a 1-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers (goal: Sam Small). The final was played in London at Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of 42.000 despite fears that there would be an attack from the Luftwaffe.
The new campaign of Ukrainian football leagues will go ahead from 23 August – Ukraine’s Day of the National Flag – following an order from president Volodymyr Zelensky. It is seen as “a sign to the world that Ukraine can and will win. It’s also a sign to society that we are confident,” says Andriy Pavelko, head of the Ukrainian Football Association.
Dinamo Kiev has already played in the UEFA Champions League qualification earlier in the summer and defeated Austrian club Sturm Graz 3-1 on aggregate. The Ukrainian club played their home tie in Poland. They now play Benfica in the play-offs on Wednesday evening, the game again taking place in Łódź (Poland).
Russian clubs have been disqualified by the UEFA and are not allowed to compete in the 2022/23 European cups.
Two defeats on the Sunday
Holidays are coming to an end, and Sunday’s football games didn’t help my mood either.
West Ham lost away at newly promoted Nottingham Forest on a hot afternoon when Premier League football returned to the City Ground after a 23-year-absence. The Hammers twice hit the bar, and Declan Rice missed a glorious chance to rescue a draw when his weak penalty was saved by brilliant Forest goalkeeper Henderson. Scamacca came on late for Antonio and was of no impact, but Benrahma played very well and was unlucky when he had a goal disallowed by VAR and when his second half strike only went onto the crossbar.
A bad day for West Ham, a great afternoon for Nottingham Forest…. 🌳 West Ham didn’t play bad today though, and could well have won. But after another loss, now we have to be grateful that ManUtd are so sh*t, otherwise we would be bottom of the table!
David Hautzig in his match report wrote that he had felt for some time that this season would not be anything like the previous two. Unemotionally it could be seen as a season to consolidate. But next Sunday WHU have to host Brighton, and “we all know our dismal record against them. So we could be looking at zero points after three games. You cannot spin that in a positive manner. We have started the season short on players, and now we are short on results and maybe confidence”, Hautzig said, and he concluded: “I know I am.”
And SK Rapid aren’t victorious either: at the time of starting to write this post they were trailing a 2-0 in their away game in Upper Austria against LASK with less than 10 minutes to go. LASK are managed by former Rapid coach Didi Kühbauer who of course would be happy to inflict defeat on his former club and cement LASK’s first place in the Austrian Bundesliga after four rounds played.
In the 94th minute Marco Grüll scored a consolation goal, but Rapid lose 1-2. They can at least add to their excuse that after exhausting 120 minutes in the Conference League three days ago, the manager changed his starting XI quite a lot, bringing in eight players who hadn’t started against Baku on Thursday.
For both clubs their next game is the first leg of the UEFA Conference League play-off with West Ham playing Danish green-white side Viborg, and SK Rapid having to overcome FC Vaduz from Liechtenstein. Everybody has to pick himself up now and try to find some confidence ahead of these games. Because in football “it’s all about confidence”, as the saying goes.
Just look at poor ManUtd, they very well proof at the moment that the saying is all but true.
EXTRA TIME 
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