The doubles winners of the past three years fought their way into the final with a 5-4 win on penalties at WAC on Wednesday. It was 1-1 after 90 and 120 minutes. In the final on May 1st (5:00 p.m.) in Klagenfurt’s Wörthersee Stadium, SV Ried is waiting for the superior Bundesliga leaders. Since 2012, Salzburg has only failed to win the title in 2013 (Pasching) and 2018 (Sturm Graz).
After an early goal by Matthäus Taferner (2nd) in front of 3,551 spectators in the Lavanttal Arena, the Carinthians could dream of reaching the first final. “Joker” Benjamin Sesko (77th) saved the “bulls”, who were disappointing for long stretches, in extra time, in which the only “highlight” Sesko saw the red card in the 117th minute. Christopher Wernitznig was the only player to miss penalties, Philipp Köhn cleared the ball via the post. Salzburg’s final opponent Ried is represented in the final for the fourth time, in 1998 and 2011 they won their previous two titles, in 2012 Salzburg were too strong.
The Wolfsbergers, with Jonathan Scherzer making his comeback in defense after a long injury break, started like a shot. Michael Liendl didn’t shoot from a good shooting position, but served Taferner with a dream hole pass, which sank the ball into the goal from six meters after 1:50 minutes. Salzburg seemed completely insecure, didn’t calm down the game and were lucky not to fall further behind. Köhn caught a ball, took steps into the goal, but kept the ball in front. Without goal-line technology, there was no way to tell if the faux leather was behind the line (7′). Two minutes later, Dario Vizinger missed an overhead kick.
Apart from the chances in the early stages, WAC had a series of corner kicks and didn’t let the guests come into play at all, even with an aggressive appearance. It had been a long time since the “Bulls” were so harmless, and there wasn’t a top chance in the first half. In addition, top striker Karim Adeyemi was eliminated early with a muscle injury in his right rear thigh, which is why Noah Okafor was substituted earlier than planned from the 19th minute.
After the restart, the Wolfsbergers were careful to manage the lead. Salzburg was forced to do more for the game, but had an unusual number of problems and initially few ideas. The characteristics of the game only changed when Maurits Kjaergaard and especially Sesko were brought in in the 63rd minute. Suddenly, coach Matthias Jaissle’s team was also dangerous in the end. Sesko passed the ball over from a difficult angle after an Ulmer cross (63′) and rolled the ball well past the far corner (69′). Chance number three led to success. Rasmus Kristensen directed a wide Seiwald pass with his head in the middle, where Sesko completed it confidently after a turn.
An open finish developed as a result, but no more goals were scored, not even in extra time, in which a deflected Aaronson shot (98th) and a Peretz shot (109th) were dangerous. Salzburg ended the game with ten men as Sesko Wolfsberg’s Peretz high-footed a shot in the back and was ruled out by Markus Hameter. In the penalty shoot-out, the Salzburg shooters converted bombproof, while nerves played a role in the WAC. Wernitznig forgave, Dominik Baumgartner and Liendl were also lucky.
The WAC also lost its third cup semi-final (after 2015 and 2021). That should have actually taken place on March 2nd, but had been postponed because of the Corona misery in Salzburg at the time. On Sunday, the two teams meet again in Wolfsberg in the league.
Source: Nachrichten
