Salzburg won its seventh straight Austrian Bundesliga title with a 3-0 win over Hartberg to complete a double under first-year coach Jesse Marsch.
The former Montreal Impact andNew York Red Bulls coach arrived from RB Leipzig, where he served as an assistant in 2018-19.
Marsch celebrated Salzburg’s first game back following the 10-week lock-down with a 5-0 winover second division Austria Lustenau in the OFB-Cup final to become the first American-born and -bred coach to win a trophy in a European country.
The league season turned during thelock-down when first-place LASK Linz, which led Salzburg by six points at the end of the regular was docked 12 points — six points it would have taken into the championship round — for breaking theAustrian sports ministry’s social-distancing rules. It was caught on tape training as a team when safety rules limited training to groups of six players.
Salzburg has a nine-point leadover second-place Rapid Vienna with two games to play in the championship round, where it has won six games and tied the other two. LASK dropped to third place with just three wins in eight gamessince the return to play.
Marsch joined one of the most talented and ambitious small clubs in Europe — but a club that lost two of its biggest stars during the winter break. Norwegianteenager Erling Haaland joined Borussia Dortmund, and Japanese Takumi Minamino was transferred to Liverpool.
Salzburg has made a name for itself by aggressively recruitingyoung players and then moving them on. Naby Keita and Sadio Mane are also at Liverpool while French defender Dayot Upamecano is at RB Leipzig after signing with Austria Lustenauat the age of 16.
Another feather in the cap for Marsch. Looks like his supposed ‘backwards’ move from HC at NYRB to AC at RBL – already proven to be a good move – has paid unexpected dividents b.c. U.S. sport and MLS is still in abeyance due to the ongoing struggles with the COVID pandemic while Europe and Austria expecially have been able to shake the bug and restart sports. Maybe he never comes back. Well done Jesse! Keep it going!
How about a little appreciation for another American, Rino Matarazzo, who just managed Stuttgart into the Bundesliga for next season. Jesse is not the only successful American coach in Europe. Good luck to him!!