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Match Reports & Previews
Yorkshire Post 11-12-1935
VIENNA TEAM IN LEEDS
United to Play Their Full League Side
F.C. Wien, the Vienna team, who are to end their North of England tour with a match against Leeds United at Elland Road to-day, arrived in Leeds yesterday, and were met by Mr. Stanley Blenkinsop, a member of the Leeds United directorate, and the manager, Mr. W. Hampson. So far Vienna have played three matches in England against Blackburn Rovers, Bradford, and Blackpool and thougn they have yet to claim, their first victory, they have impressed everyone by their attractive football. There will be no change in the Leeds United team from that which beat Derby County, namely :McInroy; Sproston, Milburn (J.); Edwards, McDougall, Browne; Duggan, Brown, Kelly (J.), Furness, Cochrane. Wien will be represented by: Plaschka; Schneider, Thaler; Cernic, Zlatchlavek, Hrdlicka; Riegler, Lanik, Kozian, Waitz, Hassmann.
Yorkshire Post 12-12-1935
VIENNA TEAM AT ELLAND ROAD
FRIENDLY FOOTBALL IN BEST SENSE
Association History Made in Leeds
TOURISTS' HANDICAPS
Association football history was made in Leeds yesterday, when for the first time Leeds United entertained a team from the Continent. Their opponents were Wien, who were concluding a tour in which they have played four matches. The miserable weather, with rain drizzling all the time, rumed any possibility of a good gate, and only 2,600 spectators attended. Nevertheless, the enterprise of the Leeds United club in arranging the match was justified as missionary work for the game, and as promoting a better understanding between nations, while the spectators were entertained by clever football in a match that was entirely different, from a League fixture or a cup-tie. Leeds United, who were much faster than their opponents, won comfortably by four goals to one, but in arriving at a comparison between the class of football played in the two countries many allowances must be made for the visiting side. The Vienna team, in an absence of knowledge of English conditions, were probably not as well prepared as they might have been for a mid-winter campaign here, and the unfavourable weather during their visit has undoubtedly had a depressing effect on the side. Attendance at their matches has been poor, and as the tourists came on sharing terms, they are likely to lose money. Touring Team's Handicaps Travelling and sight-seeing, too, are not
calculated to help men to reprodxice their best form, and there can be little doubt that in their own country their team work is much more effective than that which they
displayed against Leeds United. Among other things, the game will have served the useful purpose of enabling our followers of the game to appreciate the difficulties which English teams experience when they go on a Continental tour. Indeed, an experienced Continental journalist at yesterday's match said he had seen famous English sides playing abroad who had scarcely been recognisable as the same teams which he had seen in League football here. He declared that some of our leading teams had been as much inferior to their Continental opponents when on tour as were Wien to Leeds United in the mud and rain yesterday. Actually, the Wien men were all very clever on the ball, but they had no finishing power. Chief interest in the match resolved itself into a study of the footcraft of individual players, and on the. Vienna side several men attracted considerable attention. Clever Austrian Player One was the light-haired left back, Thaler, who, though adopting defensive tactics which would have been very risky in English League football, showed constructive ability that led to the belief that he would do remarkably well as an inside forward. The inside left, Kotzian, was also remarkably good, and the veteran right back and captain, Schneider, who is now about 33 years of age, times the ball with splendid judgment. The goalkeeper, Plaschka, was brilliant and weak by turns. He made some astonishing acrobatic saves, but he was badly bothered by the greasy ball, and as he does not wear gloves, he was at a big disadvantage. Two or three of the shots which should not have beaten him, for he got both hands to the ball but failed to hold it. The outstanding craftsman on the Leeds side was Willis Edwards, who controlled the ball with masterly skill. Unfortunately, he received a kick on the knee in the second half which caused him to limp afterwards. The young Irish half-back, Browne, took the game very seriously and was conspicuously energetic. Kelly scored for Leeds in the first minute,
receiving the ball from a free kick by Duggan, and Duggan scored a second after half an hour, when the goalkeeper pulled down a shot by Cochrane on to his feet. A thirty yards shot by Furness got the third goal, and after Kotzian had scored for Austria, Duggan added a fourth for Leeds in the last minute. The visitors lost their left winger, Hassmann, in the first half, his thigh being badly grazed, and Riegler, who himself was suffering from a swollen knee, came out as substitute. Riegler, however, proved to be perhaps the smarter of the Vienna forwards in the second half. Before the game, the visiting players were introduced to the Lord Mayor of Leeds (Ald. P.T. Leigh).
