Written by Matthias Sindelar

After the clash between England and Austria, one of London's renowned critics wrote that our team introduced a new style to the British audience. He called this style nicer and more successful than his British teams. This statement by the English expert is very interesting. We did not discover a new style, but we are cultivating the old Scottish combination method, perhaps in a more revolutionary and advanced form. If "modern" means a higher degree of development - and not fashion, such as the British W-Formation - then I think our attack tactics deserved this term. The Viennese school's attacks plays sensitive demands on the football player because it is guided by: make sensitive demands on the football player because it is guided by a systematic, which had only a single objective, and purposeful combination.

In football, the goal means that we succeeded, the tools needed to achieve success are technique and tactics.

Let's take the technique first. There is still a strong conceptual confusion around this technical term on the continent. In Central Europe, many people know how to play, others understand perfect ball handling. I interpret the technique differently. I mean absolute control of the ball. Not only can a striker with perfect technique be able to hobble, do tricks, and not only be excellent at ball control, but also, above all, be a two-legged player, excellent head and skillful enough to use the upper body of the ball for lightning fast action. Not only with the foot, but also with the chest, it is possible to halt and advance the ball. Techniques also include the ability to accurately serve short or long passes (passes) and to score goals.



The tactical, that is, the intellectual requirements are equally diverse and can only be fully mastered over long years. The strategic principle should be that the opponent does not guess what our plan is. The plan itself, partly looking at the style of the opponent, is born out of prior discussion.

Read also: How Sindelar was molded

The great advantage of the Vienna School is its adaptability. Against the Hungarians, we achieved an 8:2 victory playing the "W-formation", because the crafty but not agile tactics of Gyula Mándi and Géza Takács, based on quick breakouts, promised the greatest success.

The Austrian national team's line-up plays almost perfectly the modern striker style. This offensive chain is a mix of physics, momentum, technique and tactical science. Zischek and Schall are executing agents. With Vogl on the sideline, he gets ideas just like Gschweidl and I do inside. Gschweidl's tremendous routine and tranquility trigger generously thought-out action with engineering prudence and precision; I strive to do the opposite of what the opponent must infer from my movements and posture. Gschweidl starts to build after my movements, and I launch my actions.