19. September 2024
Reverence at the entrance, reaction on the pitch – that will be required when we face newly promoted FC Lauterach on Saturday at the most modern sports facility in the Regionalliga West.
The expansion of the Ried sports facility cost five million euros and was completed in spring 2021 with the now-jewel Bruno Pezzey Stadium. The associated move of FC Lauterach from Dammstrasse to the new stadium can also be seen as the final icing on the cake of the aegis of the former “bosses”, President Norbert Heimpel and Chairman Harald Jussel. For 15 years, the two led the fortunes of Lauterach football.
A new opponent for us, a first encounter with the largest club in the market town of Lauterach.
After 30 years and a football thriller from Lochau: Back where they belong
The current club management, headed by Christian Schöpf, has been bequeathed a real treasure that they obviously know how to use. On June 8, the FC Lauterach with 200 fans travelling with them to where they definitely belong with this infrastructure: in the Regionalliga West. Under pressure to win on the last match day, they were 1:2 down at halftime in Lochau before a furious second half was decisive in this nerve-wracking football thriller – Lauterach won the game 5:3 in the end, and with it the Eliteliga Vorarlberg. They managed this with sixteen squad games, 15 of which were played by their own juniors – an outstanding performance by the mostly very young team.
The promotion heroes of FC Lauterach after the “Football thriller of Lochau”
For the first time since the 1994/95 season, FC Lauterach is playing in the regional league again. After 30 years – flanked by the harmonious surroundings, which also includes a local main sponsor from the pipeline and industrial plant construction industry – a thoroughly well-rounded affair. Once we have made this leap in time, we inevitably come to the greatest footballer that the region has ever produced, one of the most dazzling personalities in Austrian football – yes, he is a Lauteracher:
Bruno Pezzey
Austria’s greatest defensive wizard of all time started his career in Lauterach and FC Vorarlberg. Pezzey played 84 games for the national team, including all of the matches at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, with the “Miracle of Cordoba”, and in 1982 in Spain. In between, he played and scored for the then world selection in 1979 and won the UEFA Cup with Eintracht Frankfurt in 1980 and the DFB Cup in 1981. With Werder Bremen, he narrowly missed out on the German championship trophy twice, finishing runner-up.
Nationally, he left his mark on football in Innsbruck: four times Austrian champion and two cup victories – the record of a legend.
It is all the more tragic that Bruno Edmund Pezzey, just a stone’s throw away from his successful place of work, had to pass away far too early: On New Year’s Eve 1994, the father of two died of a sudden cardiac death during an ice hockey game in Innsbruck at the age of just 39.
His positions on the field, libero and full-back, are now considered outdated. In the style of a defensive free spirit, he shaped these roles like no other; Heribert Weber would be the first to spring to mind, or internationally: Franz Beckenbauer. For many in this country, however, Bruno Pezzey is and remains the greatest defensive artist who has ever appeared – it is not for nothing that the “Footballer of the Year” in Austria receives the award named after Pezzey, the “Bruno”, at the annual gala evening.
Football legend Bruno Pezzey is involved in the “Miracle of Cordoba”. Photos (Pezzey, promoted team) kindly provided by FC Lauterach – Thank you very much!
Back like Pezzey, front like Suleiman
It is only logical that Lauterach’s beautiful home now bears the name of the market town’s greatest son. A certain amount of respect is certainly warranted when we gather south of Lake Constance on Saturday. It is important, of course, to leave this respect at the stadium gates, to really get going on the pitch and, with the aim of three points, to not allow any more lapses in concentration at the back – in this way, with the chains connected, with modern shifting, as is done today, we could at least come close to what the free spirit Pezzey conjured up on the pitch in his successful 90 minutes.
Especially since “Prädikat Pezzey” has not stood in the way of the Ländle newcomers’ opponents, at least so far – Kuchl, for example, scored five times in the opening round, and the green-whites were beaten just as often by Reichenau. In the weeks that followed, however, the league newcomer stabilized itself better and finally scored its first win of the season last weekend, a 3:1 victory over last year’s promoted team SC Röthis.
According to a snapshot from the last round, the main threat to the goal at FC comes from the Suleiman brothers. In Röthis, Magid scored twice and Haatim scored in injury time.
In Röthis, the Lauterach team has been better recently – can they also top the formidable “Sportplatz an der Ratz” at the bratwurst grill?
It’s about the sausage
Finally, in view of yet another new opponent that we will be facing on Saturday, there is only one question left to answer, an aspect that well-travelled Vorarlberg experts have long been looking forward to with great confidence – expressed in the words of a violet fan forum luminary: “How good will the sausages be there?”
Well, there are initial indications that it is “very good”. The head of catering at FC Lauterach is the owner of “Michis Café”a real cult pub in the market town, which will be closed on Saturday – because the boss is at the football pitch when the FC plays, he is there himself at the grill and will probably give everyone their money’s worth, whose mouths are already watering at the thought of the wonderful combination on the sidelines: a cold beer on a golden autumn day and a hearty bratwurst of Ländle level.
Up where we belong
The anticipation is simply unbeatable, this highly attractive away game in the eighth round, which you should definitely accompany the Violets to. Let’s give our back line a touch of Pezzey on the pitch so that the clean sheet is back, and let’s not forget what else will be important for us as favorites: visiting the newly promoted team, playing like a newly promoted team!
Because we’re going up and becoming champions again…
Will we keep the pristine away jersey?
Kick-off is at the best time on Saturday afternoon – the ball will roll at 3:30 p.m. in the Bruno Pezzey Stadium.
Failures & Comebacks
- Semir Gvozdjar & Mathias Theiner – will not be available for several weeks after injuries sustained in the St. Johann game
- Christoph Bann – Comeback expected for September according to latest information
- Luca Schmitzberger – long-term injured new signing, can start at the end of October at the earliest
Brightly sunny match day, radiant facade and interior …
with Mobile sandblasting Pargfrieder – loyal partner of Salzburger Austria.
Live from the match day: Our WhatsApp channel tickers quickly and reliably – in addition: The hot final phase LIVE on LaOla.Viola, the purple wave on Saturday afternoon
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Even more of the flair: The last 19 minutes plus injury time we are again live on it via Podbean (can be downloaded from the usual app stores, but the podcast also works directly via the link), this time from approx. 4:55 p.m. The audio live broadcast will also be available to listen to from Sunday, embedded in the follow-up report here on our website or always at hand – just use our Subscribe to the Austria Salzburg podcast channel!
Directions
Sportplatzstrasse 3, 6923 Lauterach
From the Lauterach train station it is 2.2 km or about half an hour on foot to the stadium.
