A decent crowd came out for the opening Bundesliga fixture on Saturday afternoon, against Tirol side Wacker Innsbruck. Christopher Trimmel lined up, as in pre-season, at right back and the returning Muhammed Ildiz was deployed as the holding midfielder against his former club. New signing Gerson got the nod from trainer Peter Schöttel at centre back, while Terrance Boyd took the field as the lone striker. Kulovits wonder strike Straight from kick off the management teams thinking behind the line up paid instant dividends: with the first attack of the season Rapid took the lead. Christopher Drazan put across a fast low cross towards the near post and Boyd, showing the predatory instincts all good strikers have, met the ball perfectly and drilled it low in the near corner in the 4th minute. The goal built on the Green-Whites self confidence and left Wacker looking deflated and downtrodden. Innsbruck keeper Safar did well to keep out a Deni Alar effort in the 12th minute but he was powerless to stop the second of the afternoon for the Hütteldorfers on 20 minutes. Captain Steffen Hofmann received the ball on the left side of the penalty and spotted Stefan Kulovits in space on the other side of the box. Kulovits gathered in Hofmann's chipped pass, turned inside the scrambling defender and curled a delicious left foot shot into the far corner, leaving Safar little more than an onlooker. It was only Kulovits' fourth league goal in a decade of football with Rapid!Game over shortly after half time Rapid threatened to add a third and put the game beyond the visitors, but Innsbruck held on and made it back to the half time dressing room still only two goals adrift. The toothless Wacker side had seen Königshofer repel their only chance of the half, a close range Piesinger effort, just a few minutes before the half time whistle had blown. Just minutes after the restart Trimmel crossed for Boyd who attempted a repeat of his acrobatics from the Roma game, but this time his overhead volley went wide of the target. In the 55th minute Safar was however picking the ball out of the net for the third time that afternoon: Boyd broke through and when bearing down on the Innsbruck keeper, unselfishly laid the ball square for the lurking Drazan to slide home into an unguarded net. Boyd adds a fourthFollowing the third, Rapid somewhat understandably took their foot off the gas and looked to play a bit of possession football. Any lingering thoughts Wacker may have had about getting a foothold back in the game were extinguished on 71 minutes: Hofmann picked out man of the moment Boyd with a defence splitting pas, the big striker got his shot away, and despite Safar getting a foot to it, the ball ballooned up and had enough momentum to carry it over the line. Cue acrobatic celebrations from Boyd who will fast become a Hanappi favorite with these sort of performances. No further additions to the score line followed at either end which meant the game finished a richly deserved 4:0 win for the Viennese. The game can be seen as an early statement of intent from Schöttel's side who are off to a flyer and duly took their position at the top of the league as the early pace setters. tipp3-Bundesliga powered by T-Mobile, 1st round:SK Rapid - Wacker Innsbruck 4:0 (2:0)Gerhard Hanappi-Stadion, 14.800, Referee HarkamGoals: 1:0 (4.) Boyd, 2:0 (20.) Kulovits, 3:0 (56.) Drazan, 4:0 (71.) BoydSK Rapid: Königshofer - Trimmel (52. Schrammel), Sonnleitner, Gerson, Katzer - Kulovits, Ildiz - Alar (59. Burgstaller), Hofmann, Drazan - Boyd (73. Grozurek)Innsbruck: Safar - Bergmann, Kofler, Svejnoha, Hauser - Abraham (53. Schreter) - Schütz, Piesinger, Saurer (53. Perstaller), Wernitznig (81. Kuen) - FernandesYellow Cards: Trimmel, Burgstaller Schütz, Piesinger (gw)
23.07.2012