Menzel's Czech Fitba Thread

[Menzel]

Obviously don't think I'm good enough to blog about this stuff, but thought I would start a wee thread for anyone interested in Czech football, in particular the domestic league. I'll also be writing a wee bit about the fortunes of the Czech national side. Gives me something to do and might also give some folk an idea of the level of the game in far-flung central Europe. Many of my posts will be about Zbrojovka Brno, my local club playing in the Synot Liga, the top level of Czech football. Saturday night sees an interesting game against the hated Sparta Prague, and I'll definitely be trying to cover that. I'd also recommend @Synotliga_EN on twitter which does English-language updates of games.

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Due to the international break, which was fruitful for the Czech national side with wins over Turkey and Kazakhstan, there was no top league football this weekend. I therefore took the opportunity to travel across the city to take in SK Líšeň against Prostějov in the Moravian-Silesian Football League, the third tier of Czech football alongside the Bohemian Football League. At the end of the season, one team from each gets promoted to the II Liga, the equivalent of the Championship over here.

The start of the day saw Líšeň, who by some distance are the "second team" in Brno behind Zbrojovka, lying third-bottom of the league with 7 points from 10 matches, facing a strong Prostějov side, featuring several players with higher level experience, second on goal difference. A half-decent crowd of around 400 saw the encounter.

Unfortunately for the home team, they were thoroughly outclassed by a strong visiting side who never looked like giving up their lead, which came on the 9th minute as a nice through-ball resulted in a neat top-corner finish for Lukáš Zelenka, who gave Líšeň problems all afternoon. A defensive error gave Zelenka his second around the 20th minute mark, where a nothing ball was failed to be taken care of by a haphazard-looking defence, allowing the dynamic midfielder to slip in and poke the ball past Bureš into the net. The only significant chance by Líšeň arrived on the half-hour mark, a quickly taken throw was then drilled into the box by David Krška, yet from only a few yards out Jan Sedlák's shot was high and a yard wide of the goal. The chance to seal the encounter, and Zelenka's hat-trick, came minutes later, but the one-on-one was dealt with well by Bureš, forcing an early shot which went wide of the keeper's right hand post.

After several reasonably-priced pints provided by the pitchside bar, the second half was a relatively meaningless affair, with the home team coming into the match a lot further, without creating any clear-cut chances and any real threat of scoring. Prostějov, perhaps sensing this, took their feet off the gas and endeavoured to keep as much possession as possible. Their third, perhaps undeserved given the nature of the half, goal, arrived in the 92nd minute. Líšeň, who after for the last ten minutes bizarrely chose to open themselves up to get a goal (why they din't attempt this earlier is a puzzler) failed to deal with a quick break from the visitors on the right flank, leading to a cross which the unmarked Karel Kroupa calmly lifted over the keeper.

3-0 will of course be disappointing to the home team, but perhaps not as much as the manner in which the team played. This being my first time watching Líšeň this season, I can't comment on if this is how the side have been playing in general, but eight losses from eleven is poor form. They will no doubt hope to get something out of Saturday's game away to FC Hlučín, currently 6th of 16 in the table.

Highlights of the match are available on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05zc_nmbD48#t=350

Hopefully things can turn around this year for struggling Líšeň, who maintain a nice ground in a leafy part of Brno and are very much a club grounded in the community. A lot of work is necessary if they are to repeat their claim to fame, a memorable run in the Czech Cup 2007-2008 where their defeat of Slavia Prague 4-3 is still one of the greatest upsets in Czech football of the last few decades.

If I have time before Saturday, I'll post a preview to the Zbrojovka-Sparta game, as well as other games to look out for in the Synot Liga. If there are any questions I'll try my best to answer them, hope you enjoyed reading and would appreciate comments. Cheers!

[Rob1885]

Milan Baros. Pavel Nedved.

[Busta Nut]

Pavel Srnicek

[JakeSAFC]

Does the guy that dived against Scotland still play for the national team?

[yoda]

Any idea of how Kevin Luckassen is getting on at Slovan Liberec?

[Menzel]

Any idea of how Kevin Luckassen is getting on at Slovan Liberec?

As far as I'm aware he's had a couple of starts and a few off the bench for Slovan, their form has seen them only win one in ten though (that was a 6-0 demolition of Baník Ostrava!). Scored the equaliser away to Teplice a couple of months ago at the start of the season. He came off the bench two weeks back when they lost to Zbrojovka, wasn't really getting any service however. Reckon he might be able to do a job in the league, time will tell.

Edited October 14, 2014 by Menzel

[yoda]

As far as I'm aware he's had a couple of starts and a few off the bench for Slovan, their form has seen them only win one in ten though (that was a 6-0 demolition of Baník Ostrava!). Scored the equaliser away to Teplice a couple of months ago at the start of the season. He came off the bench two weeks back when they lost to Zbrojovka, wasn't really getting any service however. Reckon he might be able to do a job in the league, time will tell.

Good to hear. He was unfortunate at County, a lot of pressure was put on him (his time at County was his competitive debut) for a teenager who had just moved to a foreign league. He didn't get much, if any, service from a team that looked devoid of any attacking threat. A lot of County fans got on his back very early on. He did look hopeless for the most part - there were brief moments of quality - but part of me feels that was due to a complete crisis of confidence (had he been a "local lad" I think some fans would have been more patient). FWIW, Jordan Slew came in on-loan - only a year older - and looked like a much better player than Luckassen: he also lacked goals but he contributed more to the team.

Still, he played 14 games without scoring and County bagged £100,000+ for him so a good move for all involved. Hopefully he does well.

Edited October 15, 2014 by yoda

[Cardinal Richelieu]

I might, ahem, Czech this thread out from time to time.

I played poker in the Corinthian hotel in Prague during the summer. I was astounded to learn that the Czech for "check" is check.

The Czech burd I was trying to chat up a few weeks ago was less impressed.

[yogisbairns]

Took in 2 games last season on our footy weekend. The first one being Sparta Prague v Slovan Liberec. Think it was 4-1 to Sparta in the end. Not a bad game and at just over £5 to get in, a snip. Standard of footy probably on par with what we get back home here. The second game we took in was for my own favourite club, The Bohemians. They were playing against Slavia in a derby game (sadly, lost 1-0). This is a cracking wee club playing in a traditional stadium. The capacity now is just over 5000 and we had an almighty struggle getting tickets. Bohemians are what following a team is all about. They're local, and have no hang ups about who they are or what they represent. Added to the fact they are off the tourist trail, you can sit at the wee bar next to the stadium and get a pint for as cheap as chips. They seem to be doing a whole lot better this season than last, where they managed to avoid relegation on literally the last game of the season.

[Menzel]

Good to hear. He was unfortunate at County, a lot of pressure was put on him (his time at County was his competitive debut) for a teenager who had just moved to a foreign league. He didn't get much, if any, service from a team that looked devoid of any attacking threat. A lot of County fans got on his back very early on. He did look hopeless for the most part - there were brief moments of quality - but part of me feels that was due to a complete crisis of confidence (had he been a "local lad" I think some fans would have been more patient). FWIW, Jordan Slew came in on-loan - only a year older - and looked like a much better player than Luckassen: he also lacked goals but he contributed more to the team.

Still, he played 14 games without scoring and County bagged £100,000+ for him so a good move for all involved. Hopefully he does well.

I'm sure time will tell once he gets a few more starts. Slovan are usually a half-decent side who can expect a European spot every couple of years. 4th place finish last campaign and they went out in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League. This season they don't seem to get anything working whatsoever, and that lack of ideas could see Luckassen getting more and more starts - most of the squad looks quite young and maybe lacks the experience. Czech league football is very similar to Scotland in fulfilling a journeyman quotient (it's a similar level if you can tenuously equate Celtic most seasons with Viktoria or Sparta say) so there's nothing to say he couldn't forge a career bouncing around the league if he wanted.

[Menzel]

Took in 2 games last season on our footy weekend. The first one being Sparta Prague v Slovan Liberec. Think it was 4-1 to Sparta in the end. Not a bad game and at just over £5 to get in, a snip. Standard of footy probably on par with what we get back home here. The second game we took in was for my own favourite club, The Bohemians. They were playing against Slavia in a derby game (sadly, lost 1-0). This is a cracking wee club playing in a traditional stadium. The capacity now is just over 5000 and we had an almighty struggle getting tickets. Bohemians are what following a team is all about. They're local, and have no hang ups about who they are or what they represent. Added to the fact they are off the tourist trail, you can sit at the wee bar next to the stadium and get a pint for as cheap as chips. They seem to be doing a whole lot better this season than last, where they managed to avoid relegation on literally the last game of the season.

Now we're talking! Bohemians are a fascinating wee team in that several businesspeople tried to get them franchised to another part on the outskirts of Prague and they got hauled back pretty much in the same was as St Pauli did, with contributions of fans and the community. The good guys are now Bohemians 1905 and there's still a leagl battle going on with the other side, who sit in the division below, have hee-haw fans and are rightly seen as pariahs. You're right that the Doliček is a cracking stadium, I've yet to see it since the all-seater refurbishment but I plan on going to the Zrbojovka away fixture in November before the winter break. Did erasmus back in 2009 and they were my local team so it would be nice to get back there. The kangaroos are more than comfortable in sixth right now, they've so far been beating the sides they're supposed to and losing to the others, and a good derby win against this year's middling Slavia side.

If I get along to it I'll mind and get photos.

[Menzel]

Does the guy that dived against Scotland still play for the national team?

Jan Rezek's career has sort of gone down the tubes since his stint at Viktoria Plzeň and he's no longer in the side (justifiably). Think he might be playing for some sort of Chinese side the now? Not sure.

[JakeSAFC]

Jan Rezek's career has sort of gone down the tubes since his stint at Viktoria Plzeň and he's no longer in the side (justifiably). Think he might be playing for some sort of Chinese side the now? Not sure.

Excellent, that's karma

[moredanlife]

He was at Changchun Yatai for a year (roughly July 13 to 14) but has moved to Cypriot team Apollon Limassol

Edited October 15, 2014 by moredanlife

[vikingTON]

Well as a budding Czech-speaker, and all-round Czecho-Slovak fanboy, I'll be trying to keep this going. Is Zbrojovka just the current name for the everchanging, once Boby/FC Brno?

Having lived in Plzeň this summer I'd like to see Viktoria do well, and also Žižkov solely for embarrassing a now defunct Scottish football side a decade ago.

Edited October 16, 2014 by vikingTON

[Menzel]

Well as a budding Czech-speaker, and all-round Czecho-Slovak fanboy, I'll be trying to keep this going. Is Zbrojovka just the current name for the everchanging, once Boby/FC Brno?

Having lived in Plzeň this summer I'd like to see Viktoria do well, and also Žižkov solely for embarrassing a now defunct Scottish football side a decade ago.

I had no idea you were a Czech speaker, nice to hear there's another on these boards. You're right, Zbrojovka is the new incarnation of Boby, you still get a fair few chants around the old team name on matchdays.

Interestingly enough, Viktoria and Zbrojovka have a fan friendship going, which I find utterly bizarre for two teams in the same league. I went along to the game which was about 3 weeks ago now if memory serves, and Viktorka away fans ended up mixing in with the Zbrojovaci 'ultras' section. For all my investigations, the friendship seems entirely constructed on a mutual hatred of Sparta/Slavia. Here's a photos from their facebook of the fan display:

Would be interested to hear what you were up to in Plzeň for purely nosey purposes. Looking forward to your future contributions!

[Menzel]

Milan Baroš will apparently be starting on the bench tonight for Baník Ostrava at home to second-bottom Vysočina Jihlava. With forty minutes gone in tonight's other game, the infamous Dukla Prague are beating FK Příbram 2-0. Tomorrow's game to look out for is definitely Mladá Boleslav against Viktoria Plzeň - Boleslav are fourth and are fantastic at home and entertaining the league leaders.

[Billy Jean King]

Interesting thread. Travelled to Liberec years ago when over in Prague for a stag weekend. It was the now defunct Intertoto cup v St Pats of Dublin. Much bigger crowd than anticipated turned up and the ended opening the gates and we strolled into the main stand for nowt. Beer was pennies a pint and you got a sausage with dry bread and mustard brought to your seat. Took us until about 11pm to get back to Prague by a rattling old service bus. Great wee adventure. We were staying almost opposite Victoria Zizkovs stadium. You could walk in for a look around but no games on. Will need to get to a Prague based club next time.

[Menzel]

So the big Saturday night game has came and went, on a pretty chilly night in south Moravia. A season-high turnout for Zbrojovka saw 8,200 fans, of which some 500 were away support, converge on stadion Srbská.

All in all, it was a relatively easy victory for the visitors, who never really got out of second gear and are now justifiably top of the table. Zbrojovka could never really deal with the wide, passing game that Sparta excel at, Ivorian midfielder Tiémoko Konaté caused the Flinta problems all evening and created a couple of well-worked goals. The breakthrough came on the 13th minute, where a nice one-two split the home defence and allowed Ladislav Krejčí to dispatch an excellent near-post finish. Sparta dominated the first half, restricting Zbrojovka to nothing more than half-chances and were well worth their lead at the break.

Any chance for Zbrojovka to get back into the game were dashed before the 60 minute mark - goalkeeper Václav Hladký bundling down Marek Matějovskský in the box, and had to walk as the last man. The penalty was coolly taken care of by Bořek Dočkal to put Sparta 2-0 up. Some ten minutes later and again it was Sparta's dominance on the wing that cost Zbrojovka, the stand-off appraoch allowing miles of space for Sparta's midfield to whip in a low ball finding the unmarked David Lafata to slot home.

On the 75th minute Zbrojovka were able to get one back, in what was perhaps a candidate for the club's goal of the season so far. Pavel Košt'ál excellent run from his own half beat several visiting players, and from some 25 yards he opened his body up to lash a shot past the keeper to the cheers of the home faithful.

Full time Zrbojovka Brno 1 Sparta Prague 3. There were of course flares (despite everyone being body searched on the way in!)

An interesting statistic from the match is that all three of Sparta's goalscorers were playing in the last two European qualifiers for the Czech Republic, hinting at a real rift of class between the two teams. Sparta will of course be up there again this season, looking to defend their league title. Their next Europa League match is another fascinating one, against Slovan Bratislava (who incidentally also have a fan friendship with Zbrojovka).

The home side's next game is on Friday, away to Vysočina Jihlava. There is an outside chance I'll be in Jihlava for the week on a work assignment, so if I do end up there I'll take it in.

I think it's well worth watching the highlights for Zbrojovka's golazo - you can do so here http://www.synotliga.cz/zapas/5169-bno-spa/videosestrih.html#tabs

[Connor1874]

My only memories of Brno was Hearts always drawing them in the UEFA Cup in LMA Manager 2001.

Best thing I've learned about Czech football is the Bohemians/Bohemians Prague story. Both clubs with near identical badges, identical colours but one absolutely despises the other.

Can't remember the ins and outs but isn't a similar story to the MK Dons/Wimbledon thing? Except in this instance, Wimbledon remained the same but the fans jumped ship to AFC Wimbledon.