Rapid Vienna – Hartberg SOCCER PICKS
Before Austria’s national football team will face Poland in the European Championship qualifying round, the basic round of the new Zwölfer-Liga will be completed this weekend in the Bundesliga. After 22 match days, the league is divided into two groups, which then meet again in the first and second leg. Before the last matchday, which will be kicked off at 5 pm on Sunday, two tickets for the top play-off will be awarded. Schützenhilfe needs Austria’s record champion SK Rapid Wien. A prerequisite is in any case a home win by Rapid Vienna against Hartberg.
The Green-Whites made a comfortable start last weekend with a 1: 2 defeat in Mattersburg. Before the last 90 minutes of the basic round, the record champion must not only focus on his own team, but may also need help from Erzrivale Austria Wien. But this will only be an issue if the Kühbauer-Elf wins the home game as well. F
Rapid Vienna:
Especially in so-called “cut lots”, the SK Rapid Wien has been able to call up a top performance over the last few years. The Constance was a tiresome topic, but then, when it came to “winning”, the Austrian record champion could usually call up all the potential. After all, the Kühbauer Elf was able to defeat the Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg 2-0 at the start of the Bundesliga in 2019. For the eleven from the city of Mozart, this was the only league defeat in the current season so far. Thanks to this victory and the 4-0 victory against the SKN Sankt Pölten Rapid was again in the midst of the fight for the top six place.
In Mattersburg, however, a good chance was easily lost. Rapid was a long way from the top form, but still had every chance of winning the game. At the beginning of the second half striker Andrija Pavlovic had a so-called “100s”, which he left lying negligently. In the final phase, a mistake of the inferior Manuel Martic led to 1: 2. Thus, Rapid ranked seventh and has three points (and four goals) behind the Wolfsberger AC and two points (and five goals) behind the SK Sturm Graz.
Should Sturm only draw against Vienna Austria, Rapid will need a big win. Striker Pavlovic is convinced that the team has the quality to win the game by five goals difference. It is clear that the green-whites press on the pace from the beginning. Game shares of well over 70 percent will not be a surprise.
Hartberg:
With five wins in a row between matchday ten and 14, the team of head coach Markus Schopp catapulted towards the top play-off. The Bundesliga debutant was allowed by this success quite justified hopes to make a top-six place. However, these services could not be confirmed before or after. Since the 2: 1-triple at SV Mattersburg on 11 November Hartberg is winless. Hartberg was unable to win seven games in a row and slid into high flops against the Salzburg Bulls (0: 4) and SCR Altach (1: 6), among others.
A debacle threatened the Styrians also last weekend against the Wolfsberg AC. After an underground first half, the Schopp-Elf could thank thanks to goalkeeper Rene Swete that the team was only 1-0 down. A happy gameplay in the second round gave the TSV Hartberg even a point. A capital goalkeeper error took advantage of Rajko Rep (7th goal of the season) to equalize. Despite the point win, Markus Schopp was by no means satisfied with the performance of his team.
Meanwhile, the achievements of the Styrians probably correspond to the performance of the team. The Schopp-Elf is certainly one of the two weakest teams in the league. The ascent euphoria has gone a bit and therefore the last results are not surprising. A point win in the Austrian record champion can be almost ruled out due to the current form of Hartberg and the importance of green and white. Arguments that point to a surprise between Rapid Vienna and Hartberg for a forecast, are de facto non-existent.
