WSG Wattens vs Qarabag

WSG started brightly despite the conditions. New signing Jaden Mazou Bambara struck the crossbar inside seven minutes — the closest the Austrian Bundesliga side came all afternoon.

Qarabag made the breakthrough in the 34th minute when Sawo Zakaria finished calmly to give the visitors a 1-0 half-time lead, against the run of play for long stretches.

Whatever Qarabag head coach Gurban Gurbanov said at the break had an immediate effect. Duran doubled the lead in the 51st minute, and Zakaria struck twice in quick succession — in the 55th and 56th minutes — to complete a six-minute, three-goal blitz that killed the contest entirely.

WSG introduced eight substitutes across the second half but could not find a response. Qarabag also rotated, though their starting XI had already done the damage.

Duran's goal in the 51st minute. WSG had kept the deficit to a single goal through half-time and had reason to believe they could level. Duran's strike, coming just six minutes after the restart, punctured that belief and opened the floodgates. Zakaria's double inside 120 seconds — the third and fourth goals — turned a contest into a rout before the hour mark.

Zakaria Sawo (Qarabag) — The match-winner. Scored a clinical hat-trick (34', 55', 56'), with the second-half brace arriving in a devastating two-minute spell. His movement in the box proved too much for the WSG defence to handle in the heat.

Camilo Duran (Qarabag) — Opened his account for the pre-season with a well-taken finish in the 51st minute that broke WSG's resistance. A constant threat on the flank.

Jaden Mazou Bambara (WSG Tirol) — WSG's most dangerous player. Hit the crossbar in the 7th minute with Qarabag's defence beaten. Could not sustain the threat as Qarabag's midfield gained control.

Salko Hamzic (WSG Tirol) — The new WSG goalkeeper, making his debut, could do little about any of the four goals. Qarabag's finishing was precise and clinical.

Player of the match: Zakaria Sawo (Qarabag)

The scoreline suggests a mismatch, but WSG's early chances — particularly Bambara's 7th-minute crossbar — show a more competitive opening phase than the 4-0 result implies. Qarabag's efficiency, however, was the decisive difference: they needed only a handful of clear chances to score four times, with all three second-half goals arriving within a six-minute window. WSG's midfield struggled to slow Qarabag's transitions after the break, and the heat (38 °C) appeared to take a heavier toll on the Austrian side's pressing game.

For Qarabag, this is a confident start to their Austrian pre-season camp. They previously defeated fellow Azerbaijani side Zira 4-3 in Baku before travelling. The Azerbaijan Premier League side will face further tests before the new domestic season begins.

For WSG Tirol, this was their first pre-season outing of summer 2026 under head coach Philipp Semlic. The result itself matters less than the performance, and Semlic acknowledged as much: "That was fundamentally not a bad performance from our young team. It's a shame we couldn't score from the many chances — the lads would have absolutely deserved it. In the second half we conceded the goals a little too easily, but our performance was absolutely fine."

Notably, this match marked the final game at the "old" Gernot Langes Stadion before redevelopment. After full-time, fans took pieces of the pitch home as souvenirs — a symbolic close to a chapter for the club.

A pre-season result that flatters Qarabag's dominance but does not tell the whole story of WSG's spirited opening half-hour. The Zakaria hat-trick was ruthless finishing, and Qarabag's fitness edge in the second half was clear. WSG will take positives from their early chances and the performances of debutants like Hamzic and Murray, but defensive concentration in transition needs work before the Austrian Bundesliga resumes.