We ride with you and listen. “Krone” reporter Robert Fröwein sits on the back seat of a taxi or Uber and talks to the drivers about their experiences, their worries, their fears. Human stories straight from the heart of Vienna.
The service fits, that’s for sure. “Are you sitting comfortably? Should I turn up the heat? Should I turn off the radio? ”- My driver, Goran, knows that customer satisfaction is paramount. An Austria-Vienna pennant dangles from his rear-view mirror and I inquire about his existence as a fan. I am surprised by his answer. “I’m a fan, but not only. I played for Austria for years myself. From the youth up to the amateur team. ”For better or worse, it quickly becomes clear that Goran is starting a working class hero story that doesn’t end with a happy ending as a wealthy professional footballer. He counted various well-known names from the ballesteric present to his teammates in his youth. He winks immodestly at me, saying that he was also superior to some in terms of fitness and technical skill. In top-class sport, only a few seconds make the difference between well-being and woe. Goran gained his first regional league experience with the amateurs of Wiener Austria in his late teens, but failed because of an injury that has not yet been fully explained. I almost died jumping on the trampoline with my nephew. ”Goran consults several doctors and decides not to have an operation. The result: He fails mentally. “I was suddenly afraid of every duel. I no longer dared to slide towards balls. A vicious circle. ”Alternative treatment methods save him from pain, but with the fear in his head, even a fit leg won’t help. Goran assures me that at this point he was facing a professional contract. “The level of performance at Austria is enormous. If you don’t recover there fast enough, you’ll be out of the window. ”Life turned inside outHe was lazy at school, he didn’t want to mess with his parents, so Goran got his taxi license and turned his life upside down. He no longer quarreled with fate. “The kicking has shaped my character. I made many friends and kept in touch with them. I can’t change the situation. ”Melancholy and nostalgia are hidden behind his“ That’s just the way it is ”facade. While he was pounding along the Vienna Belt at high speed, he remembers his sporty youth days – how it all began in the Ottakringer Kendlerstraße with the SC Young Stars / Centimeter. How he bombed himself there as a striker in the attention of the Austria-Vienna youth scouts. How his anything but wealthy father scraped together 500 euros from the hard-saved money to enable Goran to travel to Padua, where he was able to compete with his peers from Juventus Turin, Inter Milan or Sampdoria Genoa in the Austria youth. Wasn’t it a bit too much to focus so strongly on the sport and let the trappings slide? What if? “Back then, I was in a special sports school on Koppstrasse. I don’t want to say that they would have been worse, but if all the teachers are athletes themselves, then maybe it is a little easier to get better grades, because not so much emphasis is placed on conventional school subjects. ”But Goran doesn’t want himself too much in his What-if wallowing in the past. The memories and the regional cult of his goalscoring qualities from the youth always remain.
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