EMPTY STANDS, FULL FOCUS FOR VIKINGS IN BERLIN
The Vienna Vikings have experienced just about every challenge European American football can throw at them over the years, from long coach journeys and cross-border logistics to packed stadiums. Sunday’s trip to Berlin Thunder may offer another, more unusual, wrinkle.
With attendance in the German capital expected to be restricted to around 110 spectators this weekend, the American Football League Europe leaders are preparing for one of the quietest environments they’ll encounter all season. Yet, rather than dwelling on the circumstances, head coach Chris Calaycay insists his players are treating it as another opportunity to strengthen the bond that has underpinned their unbeaten start.
“My big thing to the team is that we’re going to go make a memory together,” Calaycay said during his regular weekly media availability. “It is unfortunate just the way it worked out. I don’t have any control over it. My players don’t have any control over it. We can only control what we can control.
“It’s an away game anyway, so it’s supposed to be uncomfortable. It is an away game where you’re supposed to go make a memory and go defeat a team on the road.”
Vienna will travel to Berlin by coach on Saturday, facing a journey expected to take around 14 hours before beginning preparations for Sunday’s late afternoon kick-off. The lengthy road trip has become a familiar part of life in European football, but Calaycay believes such experiences often strengthen rather than weaken his squad.
The unusual matchday conditions have also required some adjustments. With little crowd noise expected, the Vikings have spent part of the week rehearsing sideline communication and coaching positions to compensate for the different stadium setup. It is, Calaycay insists, just another logistical challenge rather than a distraction.
“I’ve been over in Europe long enough where I’ve seen everything under the sun, from teams folding to driving cars as a caravan down to a game way back in the day,” he said. “I’ve played in front of 50 people and I’ve played in front of 45,000… During COVID, we had zero, so we’ll deal with it.”
The Vikings will also be careful not to let memories of their emphatic 49-7 victory over Berlin in Week 1 influence their approach. While the opening scoreline suggests a mismatch, Berlin’s performance against Rhein Fire before the bye week demonstrated just how much progress the Thunder have made under their new coaching staff. After falling behind early, they pushed the defending champions all the way before eventually losing 45-36 in one of the season’s most competitive games — and Calaycay believes that performance was no fluke.
“The number one thing that I see out of the Berlin Thunder is they’re getting better,” he said. “You’ve seen the development. They have new coaches there, new players there and, as the season goes, the good ones get better.
“They changed some things in their gameplan and, if you recognise Berlin, they have the top passer in the league as far as yardage goes. Jake [Sullivan]’s always been a great quarterback over here in Europe, [and] he has some weapons at his disposal… They want to throw the football and that leads to big plays.”
Those improvements have done nothing to lessen Vienna’s own expectations. The Vikings return from their bye week still unbeaten and chasing a sixth consecutive victory, but Calaycay says his players understand that previous results count for little once the ball is kicked off.
“There’s always a danger that you get into this mindset of, ‘Oh, we beat them before’,” he said. “But I really think that our guys have done a great job in the culture here of really approaching each week. We don’t want to be on the front page of Instagram saying upset of the year or anything like that. We want to go out there and play Vikings football and, if we do that, it’ll take care of itself.”
Image courtesy AFLE/Hannes Jirgal