2024-03-25 14:37:21
It was a very strange match for the Slovaks. Martin Dúbravka caught the ball from the net after only six seconds, and the friendly battle with the Austrians was watched by almost empty stands. However, the Austrian media also commented on it quite scathingly.
It was the fastest goal scored in Austrian football history and also the fastest conceded in the history of Slovak international football. Christoph Baumgartner opened the scoring in the sixth second.
“Baumgartner went around three stunned Slovaks and hit the bottom left corner. Then the Austrian national team had the match against the European participants under control,” wrote the Austrian website oe24.at.
According to Die Press, it was no coincidence, but the Austrian team is working on similar actions, and the Slovaks just sat on a well-rehearsed signal.
“The national team is working on similar tricks behind closed doors. Coach Ralf Rangnick is preparing the best ones for the summer for the upcoming Euro,” he wrote.
Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner scored the fastest goal in the history of international football tonight!
It took him just six seconds to find the back of the net against Slovakia ????pic.twitter.com/brKMsDELh5
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) March 23, 2024
But the biggest shame for the Slovaks was the atmosphere of the match. The Tehelné poli stadium was lit up with empty blue seats. Less than ten thousand spectators came.
“The stand for 22,500 people was not even half full, and that’s only because the Austrian cauldron was full of fans. The Slovakian fighters are apparently not interested in the Euro at all,” the newspaper Kronen Zeitung dug.
At the same time, the Austrians added that the Slovak team will show up on home soil only once before the start of the European Championship, but it did not receive an adequate visit.
“At the same time, only 700 meters away at the Ondrej Nepela Winter Stadium, the play-off of the Slovak extra league between Slovan Bratislava and Košice was taking place, where the hall for ten thousand fans was blown up,” added the Austrian daily.
Both sporting events started exactly at 18:00. The truth is that only slightly fewer fans went to hockey than to football. Official figures speak of a visit of 8,234.