Storm ace wobbles badly

No eating until kick-off at the WAC!

WAC goalscorer Thierno Ballo

(Bild: GEPA pictures/ Matic Klansek)

After four games without a win, WAC finally want to get back to winning ways today. The game at Blau-Weiß Linz doesn't kick off until 7.30pm - and that's when one duo will be banned from eating. The outgoing goalkeeper is in goal and Boakye is brutally shaky up front.

When the "Wolves" take on Blau-Weiß Linz today, hopes for goals will once again rest on one man: Thierno Ballo. The WAC attacker has already contributed nine goals (and three assists) - no one has scored more for Wolfsberg.

Samson Tijani

(Bild: GEPA pictures/ Matic Klansek)

But the 22-year-old will only be thinking about one thing right on time for kick-off at 7.30pm: food! As a devout Muslim, Ballo strictly observes the fasting month of Ramadan. This means: nothing to eat or drink - until the sun goes down! And that's exactly what it does today at 7.30 pm. . .

We have now been fasting for more than 20 days. You get used to it, it becomes normal.

Thierno Ballo, WAC

"Then we have a bar, a banana or a few dates straight away," explains Ballo, whose teammate Samson Tijani feels the same way. "We've been fasting for more than 20 days now. You get used to it, it becomes normal. I've been doing it for three or four years now," says Ballo.

Manfred Schmid

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

"Of course it's not beneficial"
WAC head coach Manfred Schmid says: "I will never forbid anyone to believe. But of course it's not good for any competitive athlete if you don't eat or drink anything all day - any nutritionist can prove that." After three games without a win in a row, the WAC definitely needs the (goal) hungriest Ballo.

Rieder is definitely out
Especially as his attacking partner Augustine Boakye (adductor) is more than just questionable - which hurts, as he has scored six goals and set up seven so far. Flo Rieder (ligament strain), who scored three times, is out for good. That leaves Ballo and Zimmermann (4 goals) as the only two fit Wolfsberg players to have scored more than once this season. 

More routine in the starting eleven
Surprisingly, Hendrik Bonmann, who left the club in the summer, is back in goal today - although Luki Gütlbauer has been really strong of late. "I promised him - and Gütlbauer will be our new number one anyway," explained Schmid, who is generally relying on more routine today with Bonmann (30), midfielder & captain Leitgeb (35) and striker Röcher (32). The fact that the game will not be played until 7.30 pm is "thanks" to the Linz marathon.