FC Banik Ostrava 0-3 SK Sigma Olomouc ( att : 6,698 ) – 2022/23 Czech Fortuna Liga

July 30, 2022

The new season in the Czech Republic started today, and of the three matches being played this Saturday afternoon the most interesting appeared to be the match-up between the sides that finished 5^th ( Banik Ostrava ) and 8^th ( Sigma Olomouc ) last season.

Furthermore, it is a fixture that I have once attended. On the way to watch Graham Taylor’s England side play Poland in Chorzow ( the “do I not like that” game ! ), we stopped off in Ostrava to watch Banik play Sigma the day before on the second to last day of the last ever Czechoslovak League season. A 5pm kick-off time on a Friday evening draw a paltry 2,212 to Banik’s Bazaly Stadium, which was their home until 2015. Entrance was 25 KCS, which was the equivalent to around 60p at the exchange rates at the time, and beer was served from a barrel with a hose-pipe attached, poured into a plastic half-litre glass for 5 KCS ( 12p ! ). There didn’t seem to be any other options available……..

 

At half-time there was a parade of former Banik players, which included Ludek Miklosko, who stood out in a very sharp suit, compared to the tatty tracksuits or poor clothing of his colleagues. As one of my friends was a West Ham supporter, he took the opportunity to speak with Ludek as he came off the pitch and seized the photo opportunity.

Banik’s line-up that day included future West Ham full-back Tomas “Red Card” Repka as well as future Ajax, Willem II and Czech international midfielder ( 69 caps ) Tomas Galasek. Sigma’s side included midfielder Radislav Latal, who was to go on to have a lengthy career at Schalke 04 and won 47 caps. Sigma were coached by Karel Bruckner, who later went on to coach the Czech national side between 2000-2008 and later had a short spell in charge of Austria.

That match was a battle for 5^th place and when Banik took a 2-1 lead early in the second half they seemed to be on course to finish ahead of Sigma. However, two goals in 4 minutes turned the game around in Sigma’s favour, and when referee Drastik showed a red card to a Banik player 10 minutes from the end, obviously a drastic decision, it enabled Sigma to see out the rest of the game to take the two points ( as it was in those days ).

I have seen Banik on three other occasions, and they lost those as well, so I seem to be a bit of a jinx for them. In 2000/01 I saw them lose at Slavia Prague ( 0-2 ) and Chmel Blsany ( 0-1 ). A young Milan Baros played in both games for Banik, whilst a young Petr Cech was on the bench for Blsany. Around 30 Banik fans made the 6 hour plus journey from Ostrava to Blsany, but after frequent trouble-making the police lost patience and had ejected all of them out of the stadium before half-time.

 

In November 2015 I saw Banik lose 1-3 at Bohemians, for whom Patrik Schick, now at Bayer Leverkusen and the biggest star of the current Czech national team, came off the bench to score twice. A good show of about 400-500 Banik fans turned up despite Banik being rock bottom of the league at the time, although half way through the first half they unfurled a long banner which read ( in English ) "Euro Hoolis against Muslim Peados and Goat fu**ers" to demonstrate their liberal tendencies. There were also a number of flags for Polish side GKS Katowice, with whom Banik have had a long friendship.

I have witnessed one other Sigma match, a 2-2 draw at Bohemians in 2000/01, in which future Hamburg and Fiorentina defender Tomas Ujfalusi ( 78 caps ) started for Sigma and former Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Pavel Hapal scored one of the goals.

 

Banik now play at the Mestsky Stadion, which has a capacity of just over 15,000 and is also home to TJ Vitkovice. Their first choice colours are white shirts with blue sleeves, and blue shorts. Their coach is now Pavel Vrba, who won the Czech title three times with Viktoria Plzen and the Bulgarian title with Ludogorets. He was at Sparta Prague last season but was sacked just before the end of the campaign.

Banik’s top scorer last season was Slovak international Ladislav Almasi ( 8 caps ) who found the net 16 times. However, he was missing today through injury. 40 year old goal-keeper Jan Lustavka had a spell at Fulham, and a presentation was made before kick-off for his birthday. Wing-back Gigli Ndefe has won 2 caps for Angola, defender Jiri Fleisman and midfielder Lukas Budinsky both have one Czech cap, whilst unused substitute Muhammed Sanneh will be familiar to followers of Estonian football, having joined in the close season from Paide Linnameeskond and has 6 caps for Gambia. Bosnian midfielder Eldar Sehic has joined from Karvina, and Nigerian forward Muhamed Tijani has returned from loan at Second Division Taborsko, where he scored 9 goals.

Sigma play at the Andruv Stadion, which holds just under 12,500 spectators, and is famous for its distinctive shaped stand behind one of the goals. They normally play in all blue, but due to the colour clash they were in an all yellow strip today. The journey from Olomouc to Ostrava is around 90kms and takes about an hour by road.

Sigma fielded two Slovaks in their starting line-up, midfielder Denis Ventura, who has featured in these diaries with Academica Clinceni in Romania, and full back Juraj Chvatal, who has one cap for his country. The rest of their team were Czechs, with centre-back Vaclav Jemelka possessing 5 caps and has played in Belgium for OH Leuven, midfielder Radim Breite has one cap and Antonin Rusak also has one cap, playing in the famous match against Scotland when an outbreak of Covid side-lined the first choice squad, forcing a C-team to be called up. Defender Florent Poulolo has represented Martinque three times.

Ticket prices for today ranged between 170-340 KCS ( £6 - £12 ) for adults, although students and OAPs could get tickets for as little 85-140 KCS ( £3- £5 ). Matchday programmes were 40 KCS ( £1.40 )

The temperature at the 16.00 kick-off local time was 19 degrees with thundery showers forecast. There was evidence of heavy rain prior to the start of the game with water on the running track surrounding the pitch.

The match shown live on onefootball.com, with a commentary in Czech ! It was also streamed on Bet365, who made Banik 5/6 favourites, with Sigma at 14/5 and the draw 5/2

Banik started brightly and in the third minute a cross from Ndefe was needlessly tipped over the bar by Sigma keeper Macik when it was already going over. From the subsequent short corner, Sehic sent a left-footed curling shot from just outside the area, which Macik again tipped over the bar. Tijani then made a pacy run down the left wing but his pull-back was mis-hit by Klima.

Sigma’s response was a low free-kick dummied at the near post which hit the leg of defender and rebounded to safety. A minute later Sehic had another long-range effort which Macik fumbled but the loose ball was hoofed away.

The first major chance of the game went to Sigma in the 19^th minute. From a throw-in on the left, Ondrej Zmrzly did well to cross from close to the by-line, and the ball found Rusek unmarked at the near post. Unfortunately for the visitors, his flick from around 3 yards out went across the face of the goal and wide of the post, with Lastuvka beaten. A minute later Mojmir Chytil was allowed to control and turn on the edge of the Banik area but his shot was weak and wide.

As Sigma started to get on top, the home fans were booing every free-kick award to the visitors. A  poor clearance from Fleisman was blocked and the ball worked to Zmrzly, but he sliced the good chance well wide.

Banik briefly stemmed the tide with a deep cross from the left wing, which was turned back into the danger zone by Klima, but with his back to the goal, Tijani failed to control and the chance was gone. Sehic then pounced on a defensive mistake by Vrastil but from a tight angle he shot across goal and wide.

The opening goal of the encounter arrived in the 37^th minute. The ball was played forward to Chytil on the edge of the area, who initially ran across goal and then shot to the near post as the Banik keeper went the other way. 1-0 to Sigma.

Banik responded well to this set-back. A free-kick was won in a promising position around 30 yards out in the centre of the goal, but Kuzmanovic shot into the defensive wall. The veteran Serbian midfielder then delivered a good-looking cross from the right, which Sigma’s Ventura could only header up in the air. Tijani rose the highest, but put his header from around 10 yards well over the bar. With first half added time being played, Kuzmanovic then shot just a foot wide from the edge of the area, but Sigma survived to head to the dressing rooms a goal to the good.

Although Banik nearly had a chance 30 seconds into the second half, Jemelka just getting ahead of Tijani to turn a low cross from the left off for a corner, Sigma created a number of opportunities in the first five minutes of the second period. First, a cross from the left by Zmrzly beat the first line of defence to find Navratil unmarked 6 yards out, but he could only steer the bouncing ball over the top. Zmrzly then evaded the attempted block by Ndefe to shoot against the legs of Lastuvka, and a minute later the same player sent an inviting cross from the left but with no-one at the back post for a tap-in.

In the 50^th minute, Zorvan wriggled free in the home area but again Lastuvka saved with an outstretched leg. Finally, the second goal did come a minute later, Zorvan’s cross from the left by-line reached Chvatal unmarked 12 yards out and his volley found the net off defender Fleisman standing in front of his keeper, and then off the inside of the post.

Sigma were now totally dominant and although Banik responded by taking off the ineffective Tijani, it had little impact. Banik’s Tetour was caught in possession forcing Frydrych to concede a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. Ventura’s free-kick curled inches wide.

The rain now became extremely heavy and both sides started making a number of substitutions. Banik did fashion one nice move, with a threatening cross from the right by Klima, headed back across goal by Pokorny for Budinsky to head for goal. However, Macik made a fairly routine save.

A minute later though Banik committed suicide. Attempting to play-out from the back,Pokorny lost control and Sigma’s two substitutes, Zifcak and Sedlak, who had been on the field less than 10 minutes combined to leave Sedlak one-on-one with the keeper, and he drilled the ball into the corner to give Sigma a 3-0 lead in the 79^th minute.  

Banik’s Kaloc did send a long range effort skidding across the surface but Macik was up to the task to make a diving save, and claim at the second attempt. That was just about the last we saw of Banik as an attacking threat and Sigma wound down the clock to complete an emphatic victory.

Despite Banik having 54% of the possession they were poor, and could be in for a hard season. Sigma though, were good value for the three points :

FC Banik Ostrava : Lastuvka – Ndefe, Frydrych, Pokorny, Fleisman – Klima, Kaloc ( Smekal ), Kuzmanovic ( Budinsky ), Tetour ( Takacs ), Sehic ( Buchta ) – Tijani ( Jaron )  

SK Sigma Olomouc : Macik – Chvatal, Vrastil, Jemelka, Zmrzly – Zorvan, Breite ( Poulolo ), Rusek ( Sip ), Ventura ( Sedlak ), Navratil ( Matousek ) – Chytil ( Zifcak )

Highlights : https://www.fortunaliga.cz/zapas/7205-fcb-olo#video

 

Club Deportivo Malacateco 1-1 Sporting San Miguelito ( att : 2,000 est ) – 2022 Concacaf League

July 28, 2022

The Concacaf League is the second-tier annual club competition for sides located in the Concacaf region of the Caribbean, North and Central America, and is currently sponsored by Scotia Bank. It features 22 sides, one from Canada, 18 from the Central America Zone and 3 from the Caribbean zone. The champions and the next best 5 sides qualify for the 2023 Concacaf Champions League. The 2021 winners were Comunicaciones from Guatemala, who beat Honduran club Motagua 6-3 on aggregate in the final.

The preliminary round features 12 sides who play over two legs to qualify for the last 16, which then continues on a two-legged knock-out basis to determine the winners. Today’s preliminary round tie featured two sides making their first-ever appearance in the Concacaf League, as Malacateco from Guatemala faced Sporting San Miguelito from Panama. The winners of this tie will go on to face Tauro FC from Panama.

Malacateco are based in the town of Malacatan in the west of the country, which has a population of just under 100,000 in the municipality. It is located approximately 370 kilometres from the capital Guatemala City, which takes around 10 hours by road.

Malacateco won their first ever title by winning the 2021 Apertura competition in Guatemala thanks to their 2-0 triumph in the two legged final over Comunicaciones.

Home is the 7,000 capacity Estadio Santa Lucia which has an artificial grass pitch, but today’s match is being played at the Estadio Pensativo in Antigua ( a city in Guatemala which is around 260km away from Malacatan, and not to be confused with the Caribbean island ! ), which has a capacity of 10,000  and a grass pitch, presumably a requirement of CONCACAF. The home colours are all red.

 

Malacateco had no players called up to the most recent Guatemala national squad, but their key players include Uruguayan goal-keeper Dario Silva, who kept two clean sheets in the Apertura final, young attacking midfielder Jose Ochea has one cap, whilst midfielders Raul Calderon and Yonathan Moran ( who scored 7 goals in the 2021 Clausura campaign ) have been called up but without earning national honours. Centre-back Sixto Betancourt has one cap whilst experienced defender Edwin Fuentes, who has won 3 caps, was an unused substitute.

Malacateco started with two Mexicans in their line-up, striker Othaniel Arce has played at the highest level in Peru with Melgar and Ayacucho as well as several clubs in Mexico, and defender Oscar Manzanarez has just joined from Tampico Madero, who play in the second level in Mexico

Malacateco have played one match so far in the 2022 Guatemala Apertura, drawing 0-0 at Deportivo Guastatoya.

Sporting San Miguelito qualified for the tournament thanks to having the best aggregate record apart from the sides winning the Panama Apertura and Clausura tournaments in 2021/22, who were Tauro and Alianza. Whilst it is the first Concacaf League appearance for SSM, the club have experienced the thrills of Concacaf competition before when they qualified for the 2013-14 Concacaf Champions League, where their participation ended in the group stage, although they did register a 1-0 home win against Costa Rican giants Alajuelense.

SSM are located in Panama City and normally play in red and black stripes but today wore a very tasteful kit of all white with a half black, half red band across the breast of the shirt. Their home ground is the Estadio Los Andes II, which has an official capacity of 1,450. As a result, the second leg tie will be played in the 32,000 capacity Estadio Rommel Fernandez, which has a grass surface.

Like Malacateco , San Miguelito they have played one league match in their season, losing 0-1 at home to Alianza.

Sporting San Miguelito also didn’t have any players selected in their country’s most recent squad, but veteran centre-back and captain Adolfo Machado won 93 caps for Panama, and was in their squad for the 2018 World Cup Finals, featuring in the 1-2 loss to Tunisia. Fellow centre-back Eric Vasquez has 10 caps, midfielder Jeanine Portillo has 1 cap, and midfielder/wing-back Kevin Galvan has 4 caps. Striker Edson Samms has played for Zamora and Deportivo Lara in Venezuela and has one cap, whilst fellow striker Tomas Rodriguez and midfielder Edgar Aparicio have been called up to national squads but without earning a cap.

40 year-old striker Nicolas Munoz ( 13 caps ) was on the bench, having just returned to Panama after playing virtually his whole career for various sides in El Salvador. Alongside him amongst the substitutes was Brazilian journeyman midfielder Dwann Oliveira, who has played in the lower divisions in Portugal and was the only foreigner in the Sporting squad.

All Concacaf League games are being streamed live on Concacaf’s YouTube channel with an American English commentary. Bet365 are also streaming all matches and made Malacateco 5/4 favourites, with SSM 21/10 outsiders and the draw at 21/10.

Kick-off was at 18.00 local time ( 1am in the UK ) with temperatures around 18 degrees but with storm clouds threatening overhead. Martinique referee Damien Rosa was in charge, with assistants from Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

The match started slowly, with both sides playing possession football but San Miguelito won the first corner of the match in the 6^th minute, which keeper Silva punched away under pressure. Malacateco appealed for a penalty in the 10^th minute when Ochoa went down under a challenge, but their cries fell on deaf ears.

SSM then had a spell of possession, culminating with a 35 yard shot from Jeanine Portillo which Silva saved with ease. It was then Malacateco’s turn to keep the ball, and in the 16^th minute they worked an opening to enable Calderon to get to the by-line on the right wing. His low cross beat the defenders and reached Arce 8 yards out at the back post. Unfortunately for the home side, the Mexican striker’s control was appalling and the ball rolled gently to the SSM keeper. The phrase “trap it farther than he can kick it” sprang to mind.

San Miguelito then took a firm grip on the rest of the half, with the lively Luis Zuniga impressing. After forcing successive corners, Silva needed to be alert to tip over a fierce 30 yard effort from Arapicio. With 25 minutes played, Zuniga’s low shot from the edge of the area was gathered by the sprawling Silva before it could sneak in at the far post, then four minutes later Zuniga fed Rodriguez into a similar position. However, although his low shot was better struck to beat Silva, it crashed against the base of the post and off for a goal-kick.

SSM came close to opening the scoring in the 41^st minute. Rodriguez had too much strength and easily brushed off Godoy to bear down on goal, but a brave block by Betancourt diverted the goal-bound shot for a corner. The set-piece was delivered beyond the back post and steered back into the danger zone by Vasquez. Samms reacted the quickest and was able to lift the ball over Silva’s attempt to intercept. However, Calderon in the right place to prevent the goal and headed off the line.

As the heavens opened, Malacateco finished the half well. Ochoa’s low shot didn’t look too dangerous, but SSM keeper took no chances to push away. In the minute added on for injury time, the block of Choy’s shot was deemed to be handball, but Aguilar’s free-kick from just outside the area was sent several feet harmlessly over the bar to send the teams into the dressing rooms on level terms. 

In the 52^nd minute San Miguelito finally grabbed the goal their play had deserved. Casazola’s chip was sent over the top of the defensive line down the right-hand channel. Substitute Dwann Oliveira, introduced at half-time, ran onto the ball and got there before the advancing keeper. Although Dwann lobbed the ball over Silva onto the top of the net, the keeper’s momentum saw him flatten Dwann and sent him somersaulting to the floor. After a moment’s hesitation the referee pointed to the spot, and following lengthy treatment to the Malacateco guardian, Samms converted into the roof of the goal over the keeper’s despairing dive. Silva was fortunate to only see yellow rather than red, with perhaps the referee being sympathetic to the injury he received.

The visitors pressed for a second goal, and after Samms was tripped on the edge of the penalty area in the 60^th minute, they saw Galvan’s left footed free-kick go past wall but pushed away in the middle of the goal by Silva, who gathered before an in-rushing attacker could take advantage of the loose ball.

All Malacateco could immediately offer in response was Kevyn Aguilar’s tame 30 yard free-kick, which was easily saved.  SSM threatened again, and a good combination between Rodriguez and Zuniga put Zuniga in space on the right, and his low cross looked certain to leave Corpas a tap-in into the empty net, but Calderon got back to make a vital interception.

Malacateco made the most of this reprieve, first Calderon’s free-kick found Aguilar unmarked 8 yards out, but his header was pushed away for a corner by the outstretched, diving Frias. The subsequent corner was poor, but despite two chances for SSM to clear, the ball reached Aguilar on the edge of the area, and a fabulous volley on the turn saw the ball hit the inside of the post and go into the net, giving Frias no chance. It was only the home side’s third shot on target.

Being back on level terms, Malacateco then took the opportunity to replace their injured keeper. The introduction of more substitutes seemed to benefit the home side, and San Miguelito’s defence was put under sustained pressure for what seemed to be for the first time. Despite that, the best opportunity in the closing stages fell to Sporting, as a left-wing cross was headed on by Munoz, but Corpas’ attempt to steer into the net was screwed across goal for Ruiz to stick out a leg and save.

The final few minutes were a bit of an anti-climax, as neither side were able to fashion a final opportunity to score, so the teams head to Panama next week all square. However, on the evidence of today’s game, Sporting San Miguelito should be strong favourites to progress to the next round in front of their own supporters. 

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE9_Gw_QsJI

Club Deportivo Malacateco : Silva ( Ruiz ) – Calderon, Manzanarez, Betancourt ( Ramirez ), Godoy, Aguilar – Moran ( Perez ), Laparra, Quinteros ( Reyes ) – Ochoa, Arce

Sporting San Miguelito :  Frias – Casazola, Vasquez, Machado, Galvan – Samms ( Corpas ), Portillo, Choy, Aparicio ( Dwann ) – Zuniga, Rodriguez ( Munoz )