A BATTLE ON VIENNESE SOIL
AMATEUR — A.C. SPARTA 5:3 (5:2)

Since A.C. Sparta was labeled Železná Sparta, for its national and international sovereignty, the team was invited by different parts of the continental to dispute real battles that would put their reputation to the test. Austria was the territory in which Sparta played the most matches; remaining invincible and proving themselves as the top continental team. Even with the rise of Austrian football, through teams such as Wiener Amateur S.V. and S.K. Rapid, Prague's red team managed to acquire impressive results throughout the early 1920s.

SCHAFFER AND SPARTA

The Wiener Amateur S.V. was getting stronger as the seasons went by. There were rumors that the Hungarian Alfréd Schaffer was leaving Prague, at the end of 1922, due to the eventual end of his career. However, this was later proved not to be true. Schaffer was overweight and did not get along with his teammates in Prague. After his short stint with the team, Schaffer toured Spain with MTK, but did not stay with his former Hungarian team. Schaffer moved to Vienna to play for Wiener Amateur S.V, alongside his former compatriots: Kálmán Konrád & Jenö Konrád.

This would be a very interesting and disputed match, Schaffer against his former club, in another exceptional clash between Austrian and Czech forces.

The Hungarian had changed his play style, of course, he was much more experienced, but less mobile on the field and praised his collective actions over individual ones. Schaffer had become a goal creator way more than a goal-scorer. He, moreover, even when he had clear chances to score, would pass the ball to a teammate. Schaffer was not selfish, although he still had an exceptional shot.


Friendly match: 10/05/1923, Thursday, 17:15
Wiener Amateur S.V. — A.C. Sparta 5:3 (5:2)
Place: Hohe Warte, Vienna — Referee: Heinrich Retschury (Vienna)
Attendance: about 45.000.

Wiener Amateur S.V.
Coach: Dr. Michael Schwarz.
XI: Jokl — Heikenwalder, Hitl — Kurz, Konrád I., Geyer — Cutti, Konrád II., Schaffer, Swatosch II., Wieser.

A.C. Sparta
Coach: John Dick.
XI: Peyr — Hojer, Pospíšil — Kolenatý, Káďa, Červený — Štěpán, Janda, Koželuh, Dvořáček, Šimonek.

Goals: Schaffer(3, 14min; 42min; 43min), Swatosch II.(17min) and Wieser(25min) — Dvořáček(15min), Janda(34min) and Koželuh(49min).



THE MATCH

In a way, the result of that match was considered as unexpected, as it was a task considered almost impossible to score five goals against A.C. Sparta, then the team considered as the best on the continent, in just one half. However, the victory of the Viennese team was completely deserved, as much as their drop in performance in the second half was notorious.

The first half was overwhelming from the home team, with demonstrations of some of the best organized attacks ever seen on Austrian soil. If Jokl hadn't made both mistakes in Sparta's goals, the team could go into the second half with an exceptionally applied advantage against the Prague team. On the A.C. Sparta side, in addition to the tactical failure in playing Mira Pospíšil, mistakes made in defense and with a tendency to have a more defensive team in the first half, could not stop the advances of Wiener Amateur S.V. Furthermore, the forwards were not at their best. The Austrians were by far the best team in the first half, not only for the impressive five goals scored, but for the exemplary and sovereign football presented.


Alfréd Schaffer

The second half looked completely different from the first. The A.C. Sparta fixed the mistake made and had to fetch a major handicap that seemed already unreachable. The Wiener Amateur S.V. took the most defensive position of the match, thus their brilliant first-half offensive line was almost completely innate. The A.C. Sparta were better in the second half, and even though it looked difficult to tie the game, they could have gotten a much better result if they had converted their chances. However, the defensive system of the Wiener Amateur S.V. managed to withstand the advances of the Prague team.

As impressive as this clash was, on the part of the main experts who followed the match, there were not many conclusions about it. Yes indeed, Sparta wasn't the same team anymore, it wasn't the best version of it like in previous years. However, this was considered a more atypical than sovereign match by Wiener Amateur S.V., and that this would not downgrade the level of A.C. Sparta or wouldn't even make any conclusions about their football. Furthermore, this match had a taste of revenge on the part of the Viennese team, as, not long ago, the Prague team had beaten them by 6:0.

WIENER AMATEUR S.V.

The goalkeeper Jokl was the worst man of the vinnese team, he conceded two unnecessary goals to the violets. The full-backs put up a good fight, but without offering anything outstanding.

The half-back line played an above-regular role, with Karl Kurz and Karl Geyer constantly supplying Jenö Konrád and the offensive line. Jenö Konrád was the backbone of the offensive line. After the forwards, Kálmán Konrád's older brother was the best in the Viennese team.

The main aspect of the Viennese team was the forward line, mainly due to their series of attacks delivered in the first half. The forward line had everything, it was complete in the most diverse aspects of the game. They demonstrated one of its best performances in its entire history.

The forward line offered energy, speed, dynamism, refined technique — precisely shooting — alongside an enourmous tactical knowledge — mainly in terms of superb combinations and tactical sense. Almost all were perfectly aligned. Wilhelm Morocutti, Ferdinand Swatosch and the Hungarian Alfréd Schaffer, especially the latter and right winger Morocutti, who played a formidable match. Followed by these, Kálmán Konrád also played a world-class match. Only Gustav Wieser was not comparable to his teammates.

The main plays of the Viennese team came from the right side, through Cutti, who played an exceptional game and could not be marked in any way by the defensive system of A.C. Sparta. Cutti was unstoppable, action after action, he centralized perfect balls for the inside trio. Following Cutti, Schaffer was the other main name of the match, as he was present in every goal of the Viennese team.

A.C. SPARTA

In addition to having to play on an away field, the A.C. Sparta was not complete and not in top form. The defensive system failed in the first half; the offensive actions in the second. The team, moreover, was no longer the same as a few years ago. The team was in transition from its great version of previous years, players were being tested, new signings, the aging of some of its main names and among other factors. A.C. Sparta, however, still were considered by many as the best continental team, perhaps in the world.

The team's main mistake was A.C. Sparta was to have selected Mira Pospíšil for the match, as he was completely out of condition to play the match. In the second half, Pospíšil was replaced by Ferdinand Hajný. Antonín Janda, with his defensive and offensive versatility, went to play alongside Antonín Hojer once again:

Šimonek                  Koželuh                  Štěpán  
Dvořáček            Hajný     

  Červený         Káďa         Kolenatý

Janda         Hojer 

Peyr

A.C. Sparta attributed itself to a more defensive placement in the match, with both wing half-backs being more targeted towards marking Viennese offensive actions. Even so, the system failed and its performance was mitigating as Wiener Amateur S.V. were scoring more goals. After the third goal scored, the opposing combinations were more precise and dominated the defense of the Prague team even more.

However, even with five goals conceded, František Peyr was excellent. Antonín Hojer failed in the second goal, but he fixed his game and was considered the best defender.

The half-back line played well below expectations, only Káďa kept the class above the others. This ended up weakening the attack, in a way, as the forward line was not properly supplied by the half-backs.

The forward line did not work in the first half of the match. However, the game changed almost completely in the second half, even though they could not score more goals. Karel Koželuh and Jan Dvořáček were the main highlights in the attack.

The offensive line was altered — an aspect that was further modified in the second half. Otto Šimonek was making his debut for the team and Štěpán was far from the same level as Josef Sedláček.

For the Prague team's inside trio, Ferdinand Hajný couldn't demonstrate much.