You are an American Football fan…
You live in Europe …
What? You are not coming to Vienna this Saturday?!?!
What is wrong with you ?!?!
INTRODUCTION
[su_dropcap]T[/su_dropcap]omorrow night Vienna will host the final chapter of the 2014 Eat the Ball European Championship at the beautiful Ernst-Happel-Stadium which has capacity for 50,000 fans! Kick-off is at 7 p.m. CET / 1 p.m. EST and reigning European Champion Germany will face the host country Austria for the finale of the tournament in one of the most anticipated matchup in European American Football history!
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GERMANY
Many people are aware that Germany has been an American Football powerhouse for many years. The Germans have by far the biggest federation in Europe (by numbers of players and teams). The GFL (German Football League) is also the most competitive and stable league on the continent. The German National Team reached the finale of the last four European Championships, winning twice in 2001 and 2010.
But Germany seems to not be as dominant as they used to be. Their national club league uses a lot of American import players at skill positions, which doesn’t encourage the development of German players for their National Team. Their Junior National Team (under 19 years old) hasn’t won the youth European Championship since 2008.
They were also placed in the easier group of this tournament. Having no trouble Finland in their first game (47-7), they struggled a bit to manage Sweden in their second game (52-40) in Group A.
Germany is led by a young, promising quarterback, #8 Marco Ehrenfried. Talented, but with little experience in big games, it is his first tournament as the starting QB for the National Team (and actually his first season as a starter for his club team, the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns). He will have to step up big time.
On offense, the Germans use a spread formation and often go no huddle to compliment their power running game which is led by running back #2 Danny Washington. Washington has had a monster tournament thus far with 396 yards 7 touchdowns and almost 11 yards per carry in the first two games! Typical German physical football, they pound the rock and use play actions.
Check out Washington’s speed below!
The German defense will have to bounce back after a rough outing against Sweden. They gave up 40 points and allowed 425 yards, but their 6 interceptions saved the day. They will have their hands full with the red and white Austrian offense.
AUSTRIA
On the other side of the coin, Austria has been the country on the rise in European American Football. Everybody is familiar with their two top clubs teams, the Raiffeisen Vienna Vikings (20 players on Team Austria) and Swarco Tirol Raiders, which have won 8 of of the last 10 EuroBowls (club team European Champion League). Their National Team has been improving and moving up step by step since 2008 and their Junior National Team has won the last two European Championships.
Against France we saw the damage the Austrian offensive line and and running back #27 Andreas Hofbauer can do, racking up 224 yards on the ground. If you mix it up with quarterback #8 Christoph Gross (best QB in Europe), wide receiver #13 Thomas Haider (aka the Austrian Megatron) and the speedster wide reciever #6 Laurinho Walch, this is a deadly combination.
Defensively, Austria did an amazing job last game to stop the French passing attack. Their defensive backs were a lot better than most people expected. Look for them to pack the box to stop the German running game and try to make them one dimensional.
THE FINALE!
To me, it seems like Austria is the big favorite for this game. But never count the defending champions out, they might not be as talented but they usually play great as a team and they have an experienced coaching staff.
It will be the 3rd game in a week for both teams, so rest will be a factor. Germany has had one more day and Austria had a really tough game against France on Wednesday in crazy rainy conditions. Germany should be more fresh and well, summer is finally here in Vienna, so it should over 25 C or 77 F degrees at kickoff.
But you can feel Austria is on a mission. It is time for them to finally prove there are the best team in Europe. This team is young, they have the potential to dominate European American Football for the years to come.
These two teams have met only once in the last few years. It was the first game of the 2010 European Championship. The game was a thriller all the way to very end, with Germany finding a way to win 22-20.
Also tonight, Sweden will face Denmark for the 5th place game. Tomorrow at 2 p.m. CET/ 8 a.m. EST, France will play Finland fin the Bronze Medal match. That game for third place is also a qualification game for the 2015 World Championships organized next year in Stockholm, Sweden. Only the top 3 teams from the 2014 Eat the Ball European Championships and Sweden, as the host country, will qualify to compete in Stockholm next summer. France is still the huge favorite to get bronze, but after that tough disappointing loss to Austria, we will have to see how they bounce back mentally. It would be a disaster for France to not qualify for the World Championships.
The Austrian Federation and Austrian media have done a great job promoting the tournament and the finale. The 2011 World Championship finale played between USA and Canada in the same stadium in 2011 was a huge success with 20,000 fans in attendance and a fun party-like atmosphere in the stands. Now with Austria playing for the first time for a Gold Medal in a big international tournament, especially against their German neighbors, many expect the same type of big and loud crowd on Saturday night. Nearly 10,000 people came to support Austria play France in Graz on Wednesday, Austria might be a small country but the American Football community here is crazy about their National Team, plus anything involving the rivalry with Germany brings crazy passion from the proud Austrian people. So who knows, we might get a new record for amateur European American Football with 30.000 or 40.000 people.
Best level of football in Europe, beautiful stadium, big crowd, and a passionate rivalry. Ernst-Happel-Stadium in Vienna, Austria is the place to be on Saturday night!
BE THERE !!!
