Austria round-up: Rapid fire sinks Sturm
Wednesday, July 10, 2002
Article summary
SK Sturm Graz's title defence got off to an awful start as they were thumped 4-0 by SK Rapid Wien.
Article body
SK Sturm Graz's Austrian Bundesliga defence got off to the worst possible start when they were thumped 4-0 by SK Rapid Wien at the Arnold Schwarzennegger stadium tonight.
Two for Ivanschitz
Thomas Sobotzik fired Rapid ahead in the 22nd minute, but the Viennese club reserved their best for a second half in which they struck three times without reply. Andreas Ivanschitz doubled his side's advantage in the 72nd minute before making the game safe six minutes later with his second and Rapid's third goal. Günter Schiesswald completed the scoring in the 87th minute as Rapid moved to the top of the table.
Emphatic triumph
SV Pasching also began their campaign in emphatic fashion with a 3-0 home win against FC Kärnten. Eduard Glieder opened the scoring on 46 minutes, and Michael Horvath (67) and Sanel Kuljic (88) sealed the win. VfB Admira Wacker Mödling also claimed maximum points this evening as they defeated SV Austria Salzburg 1-0 with a Markus Katzer goal deep into added time at the end of the first half.
Honours even
Elsewhere, Schwarz-Weiss Bregenz twice came from behind to earn a point at home to Grazer AK. Ronnie Brunmayr opened the scoring for the visitors after 24 minutes, but Axel Lawaree squared matters 15 minutes later. Mario Bazina seemed to have won the points for Grazer with a goal eleven minutes from time, but honours ended even thanks to Laszlö Klausz's strike three minutes later.
