It is also a “legendary game” for the jubilarian that took place on June 25, 1982 at the World Cup finals in Spain. The game became notorious as the early German lead allowed both sides to advance to the next round and the game was accordingly completed without any serious attacking efforts. The unspoken non-aggression pact between Austria (amongst others with Prohaska, Krankl, Pezzey, Koncilia, Schachner) and Germany in the preliminary round match was at the expense of the Algerians, with the 1-0 draw of the DFB selection both teams rose.
But he has nothing to blame himself for. “There are no regrets,” said Latzke almost 40 years later. “What should we have done,” he said of the options for the coaching duo Felix Latzke/Georg Schmidt. “You sit outside, I could have exchanged two, the game would have gone on like that. You all knew each other.”
The World Cup as a stepping stone
In the intermediate round it was over and the interim ÖFB job for Felix Latzke ended after eight games. But the World Cup acted as a springboard for the job at Swarovski Tirol. He was hired via Eisenstadt in Innsbruck in 1985 and, with Hansi Müller and Co., caused a sensation, especially internationally: in 1987, after victories over Spartak Moscow and FC Torino in the UEFA Cup semi-finals, it was only against the eventual winners Gothenburg that they were eliminated. But disappointment followed quickly: “I came back from vacation and Ernst Happel had signed it. You’re successful and you’re thrown out,” Latzke recalled.
After all. The boss of the Seefeld hotel where Latzke’s troops were always barracked established contact with the next employer, Waldhof Mannheim. One of the board members was a holiday guest in Seefeld, Latzke was a trainer at the then German Bundesliga team in July. “Of course that’s the dream,” says Latzke. But it burst relatively quickly. In the first season they just kept the class via relegation, in autumn 1988 it was over after just one win in 13 games. The club lost too much personal quality after he started. “My mistake was that I didn’t cancel,” said Latzke succinctly.
An untitled coaching career
It was the beginning of the end of a (untitled) coaching career, which ended just as prematurely as that as a player after further positions at VfB Mödling, Vienna, Verwarts Steyr and VÖEST. The midfielder, who played 111 competitive games for Admira, was quite talented. He was in the extended circle of the national team, Austria would also have been interested. “It was difficult to change back then, Admira didn’t want to sell me,” said the native of Favoritner, a civilian lathe operator.
After years of knee problems, it was over in 1971 at the age of 30. 23 years later, coach Latzke also left professional football at the age of 52 because his knee didn’t want to anymore. “I couldn’t stand much longer, I was in pain.” A problem that still accompanies him today. He has had a new knee joint since 2003, and an ankle had to be stiffened in the meantime. Latzke, who lives in Münchendorf south of Vienna, is not often to be found on the football fields anymore. “Every now and then, but it’s just become difficult.”
Of course, interest in football has not waned, even if it has continued to rotate. “I’m from the old guard, I think the players have too much say. As a coach, you leave if something doesn’t fit, they stay,” Latzke noted. He has nothing wrong with Franco Foda, one of his successors as ÖFB team boss: “Foda is fine. It depends on what the players do at the clubs. We already have good quality because of the many legionnaires, but if they don’t play constantly for clubs abroad, then that has an effect.”
