Fifa 2003 - Regional Club Qual. AUSTRIA

10 playable clubs in Austrian League so we devide them into 2 groups. 2 best teams in the league Austria Vien and Sturm Graz will play each other and the rest competes in a 8 team knockout. Therefore we will get 2 team that will play in a final. Here are the scores and video highlights from Austria.








"Grazer scores, Sturm wins!"

Two best teams in the country join the competition when it already was in semi finals, but to that time a lot happend and those so called outsiders, managed to give fans a very interesting turnament. It was Rapid Vienna who were suppose to be favourites to meed Austria Vienna or Sturm in the final. Suprisingly they were knocked out in the first round. SV Salzburg and Grazer AK were also the stronger sides on the paper, but this time it was all about focus and they managed to keep it cool and advance to the next stage. The closest pair was Pasching and Bregenz. First game was won by the home side of Pasching after a goal by Meir from the penalty. Bregenz seemed like a better side though and in the second leg they took an early lead. Minutes were passing and hosts could not score that winning goal, meanwhile Pasching waited for their chance. 3 minutes to go Bregenz keeper made a bad pass and Mario Muhlbauer put the ball in the net, taking his side to the quater finals.

Pasching still had luck on their side in quater final. SV Salzburg's Heimo Pfeifenberger really made his mark against Karten getting the Man of the Match award in both games. But agains Pasching he just wasn't there. Grazer did not give a big chace to SV Ried. They were the better side all the time and eaisly won 3:1 on aggregate.

In the semi finals we finaly had chance to see who seemed to be top teams. In a one game only decider Austria and Sturm played a good open game, but it was only one goal that made the score that afternoon. Imre Szabics got a good pass from midfield and took the cold blooded shot on goal. Sturm was in the final. Pasching's lucky charm seemed to work good as they took first blood in the game against Grazer, but from that moment it was Grazer game all the way to the end. 3:1 is the lowest punishment and Pasching still should be happy that they came so far in the tournamnet.

Grazer looked like they came to win. Their biggest wapon Dieter Ramusch already scored 4 goals in the turnament and striker Ronald Brunmayr show good form scoring two out of three against Pasching. Soon he leveled with Ramusch as Grazer took the lead after his great run. In the second half Szabics shined again, came out of nowhere and scored equaliser before Grazer defence figured what's cookin'. Final had to be decided by extra time. In those last 30 minutes Sturm looked a bit fresher and Szabics played like he came on few minutes earlier. His stubborn attack finaly given the winning goal ald Sturm will be the team we whould see in the final tournament.

1 Round
FC Karnten 0:2 SV Salzburg
Vfb Admira 1:3 Grazer AK
Pasching 1:0 SW Bregenz
Rapid Vien 0:0 SV Ried

SV Salzburg 1:0 FC Karnten (3:0)
Grazer AK 1:1 Vfb Admira (4:2)
SW Bregenz 1:1 Pasching (1:2)
SV Ried 2:1 Rapid Vien (2:1)

Quater finals
Grazer AK 2:0 SV Ried
Pasching 1:0 SV Salzburg

SV Ried 1:1 Grazer AK (1:3)
SV Salzburg 0:0 Pasching (0:1)

Semi Finals
Grazer AK 3:1 Pasching
Austria Vien 0:1 Sturm Graz

FINAL
Grazer AK 1:2 Sturm Graz

Top Scorers:
Ronald Brunmayr (Grazer) - 4
Dieter Ramusch (Grazer) - 4
Imre Szabics (Sturm) - 3

MVP - Imre Szabics (Sturm)

STURM GRAZ wins the place in the Final Tournament.