“We have two finals. It can be cheering sky high or it can go down to tears,” said coach Robert Ibertsberger on the upcoming tasks. A possible trump card for his team could be home strength.
The Upper Austrians have been unbeaten in their own stadium for 16 competitive games, most recently they left the josko Arena on March 14, 2021 in a 3-0 loss against LASK. “I’m convinced that we can beat any opponent at home,” said Ibertsberger.
ÖFB-Cup: Duel of the outsiders to reach the final
Ried welcomes Hartberg at home in the ÖFB Cup semifinals. The Upper Austrians have been unbeaten in their own stadium for 16 competitive games, most recently they left the Josko Arena on March 14, 2021 in a 3-0 loss against LASK.
Ried aims for fourth final
The Rieder are aiming for their fourth participation in the final. They won the trophy twice (1998 against Sturm and 2011 against Austria Lustenau), in 2012 Red Bull Salzburg was one size too big. If they reach the final, it could go against the “bulls” again. Their semifinals at the WAC have been postponed to March 16th.
Uniqua ÖFB Cup, semifinals
Beginning 6:00 p.m.:
Ried-Hartberg
Ried, Josko Arena, SR Gishamer
live in ORF 1
Possible lineups:
Ried: Sahin-Radlinger – Wießmeier, Meisl, Lackner, F. Seiwald – Stosic, Ziegl – Bajic, Nutz, Pomer – Nene
Hartberg: Swete – Farkas, Steinwender, Sonnleitner, Klem – Kainz, Diarra – Niemann, Heil, Avdijaj – Tadic
Ibertsberger is currently only dealing with the Hartberg match. “Even if they haven’t performed so well in terms of results recently, it’s a very unpleasant opponent to play against,” said the Salzburger. “They bring their quality to the pitch. You saw that in the quarter-finals of the cup against Rapid. We can only give them very little leeway and have to put our power back on the pitch.”
Hartberg “can achieve a lot”
The Hartbergers won the cup quarter-finals in Vienna-Hütteldorf 2-1, but after that they only got one point out of three Bundesliga rounds, which meant they missed out on the top six. According to coach Kurt Russ, the recent disappointments have been dealt with and checked off. “Now we have to trust ourselves more. We can achieve a lot in a game like this,” said the Styrian and explained that participation in the cup final was defined by the team as a major goal for the season last summer.
In order to make it into the final for the first time in the club’s history, the Rieder home strength must be defied. “Every series will break once. We want to be the ones to end this series so Rieder can start a new series,” Russ said.
Incidentally, the Innviertlers’ current run of success began in their own stadium against Hartberg – on April 3rd of the previous year there was a 3:2. In this league season, the Styrians lost 0:1 in Ried. “But we were always the better team in these games. And now they’re playing more offensively than they did back then, giving them a few spaces,” said Russ. His club has never won in six upper house duels with Ried.
