After the exceptional conquest of the Mitropa Cup 1936, the F.K. Austria, which had had its best campaign in Nationalliga I. since the days of Kálmán Konrád, was a team led by its two main players in recent years: Walter Nausch and Matthias Sindelar. Der Papierene, although his 34 years obviously already reflected a Sindelar not as bright as his peak in the early 1930s, had had a good league season and was still regarded as the best centre-forward on the continent by many authorities and experts before the start of Mitropa Cup. The conditions of taking the cup again were good, due to the fact that the Austrian team was considered one of the main favourites.

Already as the first match, Die Violetten would face — and once again — Bologna, the champion team of the Prima Divisione 1936/37, in a clash of schools that promised two matches of the highest level. Already for the first game, Sindelar its sovereignty as centre-forward. Sindelar, through his high synchronization with left winger Leopold Neumer, created the Austrian team's first goal. At the 80th minute mark, Sindelar turned the game, at Littoriale, into an exceptional result for F.K. Austria.

In the second match, played at Praterstadion, Sindelar scored a lightning-fast goal. Through a shot from more than 25 meters away, Sindelar opens the scoring for the Austrian team. Afterwards, the brilliant centre-forward helped create the other goals, most notably Nausch's third goal. In the impressive 5:1 victory, Sindelar and Nausch were widely recognized as the best of the match.

ATTACK LEADER

The level of performance that F.K. Austria was far above any other team's technical and tactical knowledge in the tournament. The attacks, which had clockwork precision, almost always started with Sindelar, as the offensive system suited his ideas.

Sindelar returned to receive the ball, so all four forwards started running to start combinations with the main master. The insiders, moreover, supported Sindelar very well in his actions and were always willing, even though Sindelar preferred to pass the ball to the wingers. Consequently, connections between the veteran Sindelar and the young Neumer were frequent; with the Austrian team's forward line always doing more damage on the left side. Even so, this was still not the team's ideal offensive line, as Josef Stroh was still injured.

Neumer                  Sindelar                  Riegler
Jerusalem            Nausch(c)

Sindelar no longer ran so much, due to his age and reached experience. He walked more on the field, he was always thinking about the right moment to run, to start actions. However, he always put his teammates in proper position to receive the ball. The perception, the tactical sense were of a very high level.

HUNGARIAN BATTLES

In one of the most impressive matches played in the tournament, Sindelar was the main highlight of his team in the 5:4, at Praterstadion, against Újpest. Once again, with Sindelar alongside Neumer, the F.K. Austria showed that their left side was the main path towards the goal. It was from there that the balls that would be centralized to Nausch, or directly to Sindelar, came from. The second match would be played in Mégyeri út, Budapest, with good chances for Újpest.



However, Sindelar was again the effect which F.K. Austria needed to win in Budapest. He scored the first goal while 20 meters away from Havas, it was an outstanding goal. In the 60th minute, Sindelar was fouled just a little before the area. Jerusalem took the free kick and scored the second of the match. Sindelar was once again considered the best player of the match.

In the next round, F.K. Austria would face Ferencváros, in two battles that promised to be as impressive as the last ones played in the Mitropa Cup — 1935 edition — and Húsvéti Torna.

Dr. György Sárosi was assigned to mark Sindelar, as Ferencváros needed a great centre-half to at least hold the Austrian team's offensive line. The first game showed a surgical Sindelar, always taking advantage of the spaces he had when Dr. Sárosi advanced a little closer to the Hungarian offensive line. In the first half of the game, Sindelar had more spaces, but Dr. Sárosi played a somewhat more defensive role in the second half. However, the Hungarian was not enough to contain the damage. Sindelar shone, he was the main name of his team.
 

MATCH REPORT: The strength of the visiting team was in the half-back line. It's no wonder, since Dr. Sárosi, the hero of Hungarian football, and Lázár, the most technically gifted half-back of the continent, played here. Dr. Sárosi's talents made him more of an attacking half-back. This time, his main task was to keep Sindelar cold. It must be said that he succeeded in this task in most cases. Of course, he could not always do this and it is to Sindelar's credit that he was able to create so many sure goalscoring situations on the few occasions he had. And although Dr. Sárosi made the best passes forward, there was no one to continue the action. The Hungarian forward line was very timid.


Indeed, the tournament ended for Sindelar in a spectacular and impressive way. However, the Austrian centre-forward's performances at the tournament were essential for his team and exceptionally fantastic. Only in the second half of the second match, against Ferencváros, did Sindelar not perform on the same scale as in previous matches.

He was the axis of the offensive actions of the F.K. Austria, always organizing, orchestrating, schematizing and dictating the rhythm from behind. In his team goals were traces of him, either directly or indirectly. He, moreover, even though it was not his main feature, scored 6 goals in 6 games, with Sindelar scoring in every match he played in the tournament. Another impressive feature in this edition is the fact that Sindelar scored goals from long range with impressive frequency.

Compared to the other two standout centre-forwards in the tournament, Dr. György Sárosi and Silvio Piola, Sindelar was the centre-forward who had more regularity in his performances and who reached levels above the Hungarian and Italian.


See also: Ferencváros F.C. - F.K. Austria, 25/07/1937
See also: Rankings: Mitropa Cup 1937
See also: 28/07/1937: Árpádfy interviews Sindelar
See also: Sindelar's F.K. Austria: Cup team
See also: F.K. Austria Wien 1930s: connections between defense and attack
See also: Stroh, Sindelar, Jerusalem
See also: F.K Austria-Ferencváros, 18/07/1937: Sindelar on his offside goal