October 11th, 2009
Danube Valley Athletic Conference Mid-Season Festival

Vienna International School JV 0 – 0 AIS Salzburg
AIS Budapest 1 – 3 AIS Salzburg
QSI Bratislava 0 – 6 AIS Salzburg

Leading Scorers as of 11/10/09:
N, Plaumann – 6
M, Bene – 3
G, Dimov – 2
J, Young – 1
G, Krastev – 1

Salzburg returned home from the Danube Valley Athletic Conference
Mid-Season Festival with two wins and a draw after a good morale
boosting performance in Vienna.

Salzburg had to settle for a draw in the first game against Vienna
International School despite dominating for long periods. Plaumann
rattled the bar and hit the post as Salzburg tried in vain to break
the deadlock. Nic Plaumann then thought he had given Salzburg the lead
after rounding the keeper and sending his effort into the unguarded
net. However, before the ball crossed the line, Cupic decided to make
sure. Unfortunately, he was in an offside position and the goal was
ruled out.

Salzburg went into the second game with AIS Budapest in confident mood
and were soon ahead. Plaumann picked the ball up in the middle of the
pitch and sprinted all the way through two defenders before finishing
into the bottom corner. He added a second in similar style to give
Salzburg a two goal cushion at half time. However, in typical fashion,
Salzburg gave Budapest the chance to get back into the game as Taze
brought down the Budapest forward to concede yet another penalty.
Debate raged as to whether or not the foul happened outside the box
but the penalty was given and Budapest halved the deficit. Julian
Young, making his first start of the season in midfield , then slotted
home a third for Salzburg after good work down the right hand side to
make the game safe.

So having recorded a first win of the season Salzburg entered the
final game against QSI Bratislava in bullish mood. They initially
struggled to get a hold of the game against dogged opponents but were
finally ahead when Plaumann scored after a Krastev corner. Dimov and
Bene also added to the score before Plaumann scored the goal of the
game, curling a delightful effort into the top corner with the outside
of this right foot. The game ended 6-0 with Salzburg sure to face
tougher opposition in the coming weeks.

October 7th, 2009

Vienna International School 4 – 2 AIS Salzburg

AIS Salzburg are still searching for their first win of season after
another defeat to Vienna International School on Wednesday despite a
much improved second half display.

Salzburg welcomed back goalkeeper Jakob Wimmer after he missed the
game on Friday due to sickness and he took his place between the
posts. There was also a first start of the season for Lukas Wagner in
a five man midfield, with Taze in at left back, and Mark Bene in at
centre half.

Despite obvious calls from the coach to keep the game tight and
restrict the talented Vienna side, Salzburg found themselves behind,
early after some sloppy defensive play. They were then two down
moments later as the Vienna forward danced his way into the box before
firing his shot high into the net beyond Wimmer.

Finding themselves behind once again so early in the game, Salzburg
tried to play and Plaumann was forcing the home defence into errors
which led to a succession of corners. Salzburg, however, were unable
to test the Vienna keeper before finding themselves three down. A
cross from the left was met by the Vienna forward who looped a header
high over Jackob Wimmer and into the net.

Salzburg then gave away a penalty as Zhoro, only a meter inside the
box, held out a hand as the ball was crossed in. Thankfully, the
Vienna forward blazed his spot kick high over the bar and Salzburg
went in at the break only three goals down.

After a stern word and much needed encouragement, Salzburg came out
for the second half like a different team. They were first to every
ball and did not let the talented Vienna side settle on the ball. It
was not long before the Vienna goalkeeper was forced into a save as
Plaumann drove his shot into the corner, only to see it tipped round
the post. Later, following a Dimov corner, Plaumann rose well to
direct a header towards goal that was inexplicably handled on the
line. The penalty was given, and Mark Bene pulled one back for
Salzburg from the spot.

Salzburg sensed that they could get back into the game but were dealt
a blow when Taze was shown a red card after tugging the shirt of the
Vienna forward after he had raced past him in the box. Thankfully,
Vienna missed their second penalty of the game as Wimmer this time
saved well low down to his right.

Salzburg now sensed they could get right back in the game and reduced
the margin of deficit even further. Dimov’s shot was saved, only to be
helped back into the area by Cupic. The ball found its way to the feet
of Krastev who prodded the ball home from 12 yards.

A frantic last ten minutes followed with both teams having decent
chances. However, the impressive Vienna side made the game safe with
only five minutes left when a great pass was collected by Romeo, who
fired his effort clinically into the top corner.
So another loss it may be but the effort and determination shown in
the second half should give the AIS Lions some heart going into the
mid-season festival this weekend in Vienna. A win is not too far way
so long as the effort and commitment shown today is replicated in
future games.

Coach Crossley said after the game, ‘we were poor in the first half
and we gave them the first goal with terrible decision making. We
cannot expect to win games by giving the opposition a three goal head
start. However, we worked our socks off in the second half and perhaps
deserved a draw but we will take the positives out of the game and
hope to be more solid defensively, because I believe we can score.
Vienna are a good team, but we gave them the first goal and that has
to stop before we can win a game.’


October 2nd, 2009

AIS Salzburg 2 – 10 Vienna International School

Salzburg suffered a heavy defeat in their opening home game of the
season at the hands of Vienna International School at Rif on Friday.

With two games in two days Salzburg changed formation for the visit of
Vienna with a 4-4-2 formation, looking to take advantage of the good
form of Nic Plaumann in a forward role. Zhoro dropped to the bench
with Zlatkov coming in for a start in the heart of defence. Loos
partnered Plaumann upfront with Bene and Nic Auer in central midfield.

Salzburg started well with Dimov showing good form down the right as
the home side found plenty of space in the opening moments. Plaumann
went close with an effort which he really should have fired home but
the Vienna defence stood firm. As another good opportunity was wasted,
Vienna started to get their own passing game going and one run drew
a foul from Zlatkov which could have landed him in trouble. However,
the referee took into account the speed with which the Vienna forward
burst past him and let him off with a warning. This set the tone for
the rest of the half as Vienna took full control.

The opening goal came after a sloppy back pass and Vienna soon found
themselves four goals up with some clinical finishing, taking
advantage of some slack defensive play.
Vienna finished the half strongly with the Salzburg side looking
rather bamboozled at the break.

It is fair to say that Salzburg improved their work ethic after the
break but still found the Vienna side in a thoroughly ruthless mood. As
the away side rattled in goals five, six and seven Salzburg started to
throw caution to the wind and began to carve out some more chances of
their own.

Nic Plaumann opened the Salzburg account for the season when he
rattled in an effort which the Vienna goalkeeper failed to handle.
Greeted by jubilant cheers from the watching crowd, the atmosphere
seemed to spur on the home side and Salzburg had the best of the final
stages. Plaumann was clean through moments later only to waste the
chance, opting to square the ball to Bene who failed to connect,
rather than going for goal himself. Loos then went close with an
effort from the edge of the area, and then missed what looked like the
easiest chance of the game. Dimov then got himself on the scoresheet,
turning well in the box before poking home.

The final whistle came with Salzburg probably playing their best
football of the game although Vienna fully deserved their victory.
A disappointing result it may be but there were
positives to take from the game as Salzburg finished well. Salzburg
will hope to get their first win of the season next Wednesday
when they travel to Vienna to do battle with VIS once again.

Coach Crossley said after the game, 'we were awful in defence and we
have to find some way of putting this right. We created opportunities to
score but once again our finishing let us down. What hurt though was the
way we gave them the first 3 goals and everybody is concerned about this.
However, we have a chance to put this right next Wednesday and hopefully
we will.'



October 1st, 2009

Match report from Munich:

Munich International School 0 – 0 AIS Salzburg

Salzburg goalkeeper Jacob Wimmer was man of the match as the Lions
returned home from Germany with a hard fought draw.

Salzburg lined up in a 4-1-2-2-1 formation carrying some heavy
injuries and were quickly on the back foot as the hosts began to take
control. That said, Salzburg had the best of the opening chances as
Dimov’s run ended with a pull-back only for Bene to shoot wide.
Salzburg keeper Wimmer was in fine form and pulled off a string of
good saves, deflecting one effort onto the bar.
Salzburg’s cause was not helped as Bene was harshly forced to sit out
for 5 minutes after an exchange of words with the referee. Salzburg
also suffered an early injury to Nic Auer which brought Kiril Zlatkov
into the game as a replacement in the heart of the defence. The half
ended with Dimov going close with a header from a corner and a run
from Nic Plaumann forcing a good tackle from the Munich centre half.

The second half was a real spectacle with drama at both ends of the
pitch. Munich rattled the cross bar on no less than four occasions.
Wimmer had to be alert and showed tremendous handling in coming for
crosses as Salzburg battled hard.
Controversy reigned midway through the second half as the hosts were
awarded what looked like a harsh penalty. Confusion ensued as to why
the decision had been made with Zlatkov being harshly adjudged to have
pushed a Munich player in the area. However, the home keeper stepped
forward before sending his spot-kick high into the Bavarian sky.
With justice restored Salzburg grabbed hold of the game and should
have taken the lead. Loos and Bene were guilty of missing reasonable
chances before a speculative Plaumann effort sailed narrowly wide. At
the other end, Salzburg then switched off after a throw in and were
almost punished as the Munich forward stole in at the far post but saw
his effort come back off the cross bar. A succession of Munich
corners could not force a goal and they were even kept a bay during
another period of time out for a Salzburg player, this time Taze
sitting for 5 after a late challenge.

With the game drawing to a close both sides had chances to finally
break the deadlock but the game ended in a stalemate. Considering this
was Salzburg’s first game of the season, compared to Munich’s eighth,
the Lions can be mighty proud of keeping a clean sheet and attempting
to play some nice football. They will be hoping to be a little more
clinical in front of goal when they take on Vienna at Rif on Friday.

Coach Steve Crossley said after the game – ‘we battled hard and have
come away with a draw which reflected our effort. We perhaps could
have scored ourselves but we must give credit to Munich who also never
gave up. I felt we tried to play and keep the passing game going and I
am pleased about the resolute defending and the attitude to keep going
right to the end. I’m hoping for big performances from everybody when
we take on Vienna tomorrow.’


September 27th, 2009

A tough week lies ahead for the AIS Lions as the men's soccer team
kicks off the season in Munich on Thursday.

The team assembled for the first training session over three weeks ago
with spirits low after the departure of last season's head coach and
top scorer. However, the team quickly found new nest and put a spring
in their step as the new coach took the reins. The first few sessions
were a steep learning curve for the new coach and the team. Due to
many of last season's players having graduated or left in the summer,
it quickly became clear that a change in formation would be necessary.
Along with this, many players would now be asked to develop themselves
and play in number of unfamiliar positions. Without much hesitation
those asked to do a job for the team have taken on those
responsibilities with great enthusiasm for what should be a very
competitive season.

It is clear that this season's coach would like the team to play in a
particular style. Much of the emphasis during pre-season has been
about passing the ball, keeping it on the ground, and retaining as
much possession as possible. This is a bold strategy and one which
requires all the players to be brave on the pitch and maintain a
certain level of fitness throughout the season. We are all expecting
that the team will continue to conduct themselves in a manner that
represents the school and continue to develop the excellent team spirit
that runs throughout the team.

Last update:  Monday, October 12, 2009