Violets and Maccabi Haifa draw 1-1

On their return to the concert of Europe's best youth teams, the Violets and Maccabi Haifa drew 1-1 in a performance-based draw at the sold-out Austria Academy. The visitors started strongly and took the lead after 15 minutes with a penalty from Darzi. After a foul on Deshishku, Filip Lukić equalized with a penalty of his own before the break. The return leg will take place on November 5 in Györ, Hungary.

On Wednesday afternoon, Austria embarked on its Youth League adventure. For the Violets, it was their first appearance in the big league after a twelve-year absence. The draw for the second round pitted them against Maccabi Haifa, who are competing for points in the Israeli Premier Noar League (U19 league). Young Violets coach Max Uhlig, who had been preparing the colorful mix of U17, U18, and Violets players for the match over the past few days, expected an active and powerful team with a high level of play.

Vicious guests

Uhlig was right. The approximately 600 visitors to the sold-out Austria Academy saw a technically gifted, vicious guest team that started aggressively and hardly gave the Violets a moment's peace at the beginning. A Faingezicht pass just missed Gatay (5th minute). The home side's first notable chance came after a counterattack: Danis won a tackle deep in his own half, Aleksa passed to Stöger, but Maccabi goalkeeper Alvin rushed out in time (11'). After a quarter of an hour, the score was 0-1: Darzi stole past Bah in the penalty area, and the jersey tug was enough for referee Kachevski, who immediately pointed to the spot. The fouled player himself converted to give the Israelis the lead (15'). The Green-Whites kept up the pressure, with a well-placed Amir header narrowly missing the goal (22'). Then came a moment of shock: after a harsh tackle by Faingezicht, Marcel Stöger writhed in pain on the sideline and had to be substituted shortly afterwards, to the encouraging applause of the long stand (26').

The Violets come back

After a good half hour, the character of the game changed, with the Violets visibly gaining confidence through longer periods of possession and picking up speed. The equalizer came after some impressive combination play by Uhlig's team: Maybach broke free from the pressure and played an opening pass to Nnodim, who had a clear run on goal. The ball came to Danis via Mörth, whose cross found Deshishku in the box, but he was prevented from getting a shot off. Lukić slotted the resulting penalty into the bottom left corner (38'). Because Ndukwe just managed to get to the ball before Gabay (45'), the score remained 1-1 at half-time, which was a fair reflection of the game.

Lively back and forth

After the break, an entertaining back and forth ensued with chances at both ends: a Deshishku shot was just blocked (46'), Fischer shot wide from 20 meters (47'), and Nnodim took a rebound directly (59'). At the other end, Gabay failed to beat Blažević after a counterattack (51') and, after a failed Lukić pass, missed a huge chance when he was alone in front of Blažević (60'). Both sides quickly bypassed the midfield, looking for the fastest way to take the lead: substitute Lusky poked the ball onto Blažević's chest (72'), and after a Höller corner, Maybach narrowly missed a chance to put the Violets ahead (80').

The game ended in a fair draw. The return leg will take place on November 5 (3:30 p.m.) in Györ (Hungary), but will be played behind closed doors due to security concerns.

AUSTRIA WIEN – MACCABI HAIFA 1:1 (1:1)
Goals: Lukić (38./penalty); Darzi (15./penalty)

AUSTRIA Wien: Blažević; Bah, Ndukwe, Fischer ©; Maybach, Lukić (65. Marković), Mörth (65. Höller), Aleksa, Nnodim, Stöger (26. Deshishku), Danis.  

MACCABI HAIFA: Alvin; Amir, Sztejfman, Faingezicht; Baruch, Darzi © (90+1. Karagola), Ratner, Solomon (85. Hadar), Alouk (63. Grimberg); Gabay (63. Levy), Nagat (46. Lusky).

Austria Academy, 584 spectators, referee Jovan Kachevski