BEATEN AUSTRIA IN PRAGUE
— Hugo Meisl | 21/06/1933 —

Slavia wins the first Mitropacup game 3:1 (2:1) — Deserved victory — the Viennese superior after the break.

Prague is the ground for Mitropacup games and no other competition can exert greater attraction here. The Slavia-Plazt was also occupied by more than 20.000 spectators long before the game started. Unfortunately, a lot has been neglected here. The field is uneven, bumpy, only covered with grass in a few places and doesn't really appeal to teams of combinations like Austria and Slavia. However, the Viennese did not know how to adapt to the ground conditions, they stuck to their short, flat game, while the Prague players forced a half-high or high game and even then used their physical strength to help.

In the first half. Austria, who had received a very friendly welcome from the spectators, were completely disappointed.

The poor performance of the Violets was mainly due to the failure of their centre-half Mock, who (because there is apparently nothing to eat in the dining car) had taken a sausage from favorites and contracted poisoning.

But Austria didn't show the best condition in other respects either. In the jumping technique, the Prague players were clearly superior, they got all the headers and were also successful with two such balls.

Initially things were looking good for the Viennese as they unexpectedly took the lead from an own goal by Slavia defender Ženíšek and Slavia seemed rather depressed by the loss. But then the guys from Prague pulled themselves together and tried to make up for this lead with momentum and power. The Viennese defense had a hard time asserting itself against the high game played by the locals. The audience this time was not nearly as objective as in previous games, there was a lot of excitement and accusations against the referee. Finally, towards the end of the first half, Kopecký managed to equalize with great cheering from the masses and the cheering was about to end when Svoboda scored the second goal with a header just a few minutes later. This success came from a header missed by Mock and Najemnik. Half time was 2:1.

At the break there was the impression that Slavia would win hands down, but Austria offered a surprisingly good performance after the break. Not only was they ever an equal, they were at times even superior, and the Prague supporters went through difficult times. Regrettably, however, the pace now intensified.

In all honesty I can say that the sharp pace was brought into play by the Austria, but the Slavia then did not owe anything.

Just after the start of the second half, Sobotka headed the third goal for Prague out of a scrum, so Slavia were heading for a big win. The gait then became sharper and sharper. First Vodička was defeated by Jerusalem, who wanted to hit a ball over his head and was attacked by the Pragers, albeit unintentionally, making him unable to play for a few minutes, then Schippek, this time not unintentionally, was kicked down by Fiala. Sindelar got in good shooting position several times but failed to shoot. Schippek received a warning. Austria were dominating and the more they put pressure on the Slavia goal, the more excited the spectators feared for their side. A nice run from Sindelar-Molzer seemed to bring success, but the action ended due to the softness of the Viennese at the defenders. Nothing was changed in the result.

Austria had its most active man in Jerusalem.

Sindelar did some nice things, but they never came to a successful conclusion. Molzer was released repeatedly, wasn't bad either, but he lacked the last touch. The same applies to Viertl, who was faster than his opponents but braked at the crucial moment. Of halves and defenders, Gall was the best man, after the centre-half of Prague Čambal the second best man on the field. The defenders played too sluggishly, although Nausch did provide his man. Slavia, as the more uniform team, deservedly won.

They had her best man in Čambal. The forwards delivered the far better positional game, with which they had succeeded in the Vienna international match. Puč, who was ill, had to be replaced, so the forwards played Junek, Svoboda, Sobotka, Kopecký, Joska. The defenders were good and powerful. Ženíšek's own goal was due to the excessive nervousness that prevailed at the beginning. Jerusalem had pushed a ball too far, Viertl started on the ball, but was still a few meters away, so Zeniset could have easily kidded away. But he unexpectedly gave back to Plánička, who had run out of the goal to intercept the ball so that the ball rolled into the empty goal.

Referee Klug from Budapest was too lenient, various unnecessary excesses could have been avoided if he had officiated more energetically. In any case, Austria has nothing to complain about him.

As much as I appreciate Slavia's good performance, I have to say that playing on the Slavia pitch today is an absolute handicap for a visiting team and a fight against the Italians, for example, is unthinkable for me. In any case, completely different security measures would have to be taken to ensure a smooth process.

After the victory over Austria, Slavia is of course the favorite for the cup round, but Austria goes into the fight without any chances if they know how to confirm their performance from the second half in Vienna by 90 minutes. Of course, there are two goals to catch up.

Both teams below:

Slavia: Plánička; Ženíšek, Fiala; Vodička, Čambal, Šimperský; Junek, Svoboda, Sobotka, Kopecký, Joska.

Austria: Billich; Graf, Nausch; Najemnik, Mock, Gall; Molzer, Schippek, Sindelar, Jerusalem, Viertl.