March 5, 2023
Today marked the first visit of these diaries to the 2022/23 Czech Fortuna Liga since the opening day of the season, when Sigma Olomouc registered an emphatic 3-0 win at Banik Ostrava.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2022/07/fc-banik-ostrava-0-3-sk-sigma-olomouc.html
Slovan Liberec have been featured once before, when a 1-0 win over Fastav Zlin was reported on in February 2021. The Slovan squad today is much changed from that which took to the field that day, with only 4 of the players still being with the club two years later.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2021/02/fc-slovan-liberec-1-0-fastav-zlin-att-0.html
Notable departures include keepers Filip Nguyen and Milan Knobloch who have respectively joined Slovacko and Karmiotissa in Cyprus. Winger Jakub Pesek joined Slavia Prague for €560K and Colombian striker Jhon Mosquera joined Viktoria Plzen. The three on loan players returned to their parent clubs and have since been moved on. International midfielder Michal Sadilek ( 14 caps ) returned to PSV and has since been sold to Twente Enschede for €1.50M, whilst centre-backs Jakub Jugas and Ondrej Karafiat returned to Slavia and have since been offloaded to Mlada Boleslav. Right-back Martin Koscelnik is now with Rapid Vienna and defender Matej Chalus has signed for Malmo.
Incoming players include International full-back Theodor Gebre Selassie ( 54 caps ) who has returned to Slovan after a long career at Werder Bremen, Slovak forward Lubomir Tupta is on loan from Pescara and Angolan full-back Gigli Ndefe ( 2 caps ) is on loan from Banik after previously playing for RKC Waalwijk in The Netherlands, and he started the match against Sigma Olomouc back in July. Full-back Dominik Plechaty is on loan from Sparta Prague
Dutch striker Mick van Buren scored 9 goals before the winter break for Slovan, but has since re-signed for Slavia, midfielder Lukas Cerv has appeared in all 21 games this season and scored three times, and ex-Sparta midfielder Christian Frydek has played in 20 matches.
Foreign players likely to feature in the match for Slovan included Belgian keeper Olivier Vliegen, Greek centre-back Marios Pourzitidis, Ivorian midfielder Mohamed Doumbia, Bosnian midfielder Imad Rodnic and Nigerians Ahmad Ghali and Victor Olatunji
Slovan started the weekend in 9th place with a 7-5-9 record, being 3-4-3 at home. However, they did win the first fixture with Bohemians, emerging victorious 2-0 at Dolicek in September.
In mid-week Slovan hosted Sparta Prague in quarter-final of the Czech Cup but lost on penalties after a 2-2 draw. To add salt into the wound, Gebre Selassie left the field with a broken leg and would now likely be out for the rest of the reason.
Tickets for today’s game ranged between 120-160 CZK ( £4.50 to £6 ), although anyone with tickets for the cup-tie against Sparta would get free admission.
Visitors Bohemians started the round in 7th place with an 8-5-8 record, but perhaps importantly had an impressive 6-1-3 away record, and had won midweek 2-1 at Slovacko to progress to the cup semi-finals.
Bohemians won their first two matches after the winter break 2-0, at home to Teplice and away to Hradec Kralove, but haven’t won their three games since.
Prague based Bohemians have a long history, and are the club where Antonin Panenka played. They are known as the Kangaroos after a tour to Australia in 1927.
Their Dolicek ground now has a capacity of 5,000 and their average attendance this season is 4,883. In comparison, Slovan’s average is 3,220, with the highest attendance being the 5,058 that turned up for the match against Viktoria Plzen.
Roman Kvet scored 9 times for Bohemians before the winter break but has subsequently been snapped up by Viktoria Plzen. In his absence, midfielder David Puskac has stepped up to be the midfield play-maker and has found the net 5 times this season but is currently out injured.
Apart from Slovak striker Erik Prekop, all of the Bohemian squad are Czech. Keeper Martin Jedlicka is on loan from Viktoria Plzen, midfielder Adam Janos has 1 cap, midfielder/centre-back Josef Jindrisek is 42 years old and is approaching 400 appearances for the Kangeroos, and forward Tomas Necid won 44 caps having previously played for Slavia, CSKA Moscow and ADO Den Haag amongst others. Midfielder Jan Matousek joined on loan from Slavia during the winter break, having previously made 55 appearances on loan for Slovan in the past two seasons.
The Slovan website reported that the two sides have met 41 times in league fixtures, with Slovan winning 21 times. It also stated that Slovan had never lost at home to Bohemians !
I have been to Dolicek on 5 occasions between 2000 to 2016 and have never seen Bohemians lose. However, one of those fixtures was a game against FK Bohemians Prague ( Strizkov ) with whom there was a dispute over the ownership of the name Bohemians after the original Bohemians became insolvent and two clubs rose from the ashes.
FK Bohemians Prague ( Strizkov ) were derided as imposters as the new Bohemians 1905 continued to play at Dolicek and retained the fan-base. When FK Bohemians Prague ( Strizkov ) came to play a league match at Dolicek against Bohemians 1905 in April 2010 the packed stadium was jumping in anticipation but it was never particularly hostile and mostly good humoured, and the match programme refused to name the opposition, merely referring to them as guests ( “hoste” ).
The kick-off kept getting delayed as confusion reigned as to what was happening, and around two hours after the scheduled kick-off it was eventually announced that the match had been postponed as the visitors were too frightened to play ! 120 CZK ( £3 at the time ) for a game that never was, but it was great value ! FK Bohemians Prague ( Strizkov ) disbanded at the end of the season.
Today’s match was streamed live on onefootball.com and Bet365.com, who made Liberec 6/5 favourites, with Bohemians at 2/1 and the draw at 23/10. The temperature at the 14.00 local kick-off time was just 1 degree with snow flurries, which varied in intensity during the game. The cold weather was perhaps a reason for the low attendance.
Bohemians were in a change kit of all-black rather than their usual green and white, and 100 or so supporters had made the 110km journey from the capital. Slovan were in blue shirts and sock, with white socks.
The game started in a lively manner, and after just 15 seconds Bohemians’ Kovarik crossed low into the 6 yard area from the left by-line, where the Slovan keeper dived to claim the ball. A minute later Ndefe’s cross from the right took a large deflection to loop high into the air for Bohemians keeper Jedlicka to make the catch. Two minutes in Slovan won the first corner of the match, which was punched away Superman style by Jedlicka.
Slovan had the first shot on target in the 6th minute. A chip forward into the visitors area was chest controlled by Tupta to set-up Rondic, but the Bosnian’s 15 yard effort produced a good save from Jedlicka.
A naughty late challenge by Prekop left Prebsl in agony on the floor, but the Slovan defender got his revenge a couple of minutes later when he pushed the Slovak striker to the floor. In-between the referee showed the first yellow card to Matousek for a late tackle on Cerv.
With 13 minutes played Slovan won a free-kick 30 yards out, and Tupta’s effort went to the middle of the goal, where Jedlicka opted to punch away rather than attempt to catch. Matousek then made a more positive impression, skilfully beating Doumbia close to the by-line, but again Vliegen dived to gather the cross.
Bohemians took the lead in the 16th minute in controversial circumstances. Preisler lost possession mid-way in the Bohemians half and the visitors broke quickly. Prekop slipped the ball past the last defender for Drchal to run on and smartly finish past the on-rushing keeper. VAR checked the goal for off-side and despite the TV pictures seemingly indicating that the Drchal was clearly beyond the last man when the pass was made, the goal was surprisingly awarded, much to the delight of the visitors fans in the corner behind the goal.
Bohemians nearly added a second 4 minutes later, but after Kovarik’s corner was flicked on at the near post, Drchal arriving at the back post was unable to keep his header down and the ball went over the bar. Slovan should have equalised a minute later when a great right-wing cross from Ndefe found Valenta unmarked 8 yards out, but the header was put wide.
Bohemians looked dangerous again as Matousek out muscled Prebsl near the touch-line and his pass to Prekop gave a 2 on 1 attack. However, Pretop went for glory and blazed over from the edge of the area.
Slovan’s response was to win a corner, from which Pourzitidis climbed all over Jindrisek, but the header was comfortably saved. Another counter from the visitors saw Jindrisek do well to stop the ball going out for a goal-kick but his sliding cross went to a defender who could only slice high in the air for Vliegen to catch.
Liberec pressed to get back on level terms before the interval, Valenta saw a 18 yard attempt deflected narrowly wide for a corner, Tupta could only direct a header skyward, and a dangerous in-swinging cross was well headed away by a Bohemians defender.
However, with the game entering first half-added time, the visitors doubled their lead. Janos’ cushioned header near the halfway line found Matousek who put his head down and headed for goal. He skipped past a sliding tackle from Pourzitidis and then proved too strong for Prebsl in the tackle, running onto the rebound to hook the bouncing ball past the keeper from close to the penalty spot. A fine individual goal but also poor defending.
Liberec had 68% of the possession in the first half but when into the dressing rooms two goals behind. Bohemians lead was deserved though as they looked impressive on the counter-attack.
Slovan made two changes at the break, and both nearly had an immediate impact. Frydek managed to get ahead of Kadlec to Olatunji’s low left-wing cross, but his flick on the 6 yard line drifted just wide of the far post. Rondic then tried his luck from 20 yards but it was a nice height for Jedlicka to catch. A few minutes later the ball wouldn’t fall for Olatunji and the Bohemians defence was able to crowd him out.
Slovan were rewarded for their promising start to the second half though. On 54 minutes, Tupta’s 25 yard free-kick was heading for the top corner but Jedlicka made a tremendous save to push the ball away. Fortunately for Slovan, Prebsl was the first to react, sliding at the angle of the 6 yard box to put the ball into the unguarded net to make it 1-2.
Slovan’s attempts to turn the screw were resisted by some neat possession football from Bohemians, with Prekop in particular catching the eye with his skilful hold-up play and ability to turn past markers.
Slovan did come close in the 60th minute, as Valenta played in Tupta but his drilled attempt from a tight angle rested in Jedlicka’s midrift. Two minutes later Tupta lined-up for another 25 yard free-kick, but this time his effort nearly cleared the stand behind the goal !
Bohemians were still a threat though and another lightening break after winning possession near the half-way line ended with Drchal’s shot being deflected a foot wide. Although the corner was defended, the ball was eventually crossed from the left beyond the far post where Prekop was lurking. His first attempt was blocked, but when he regained possession, he left Prebsl for dead at the by-line but his shot from an impossible angle hit the keeper’s knees at the near post and went off for a corner.
Bohemians did extend their lead in the 73rd minute. A Slovan corner was cleared and Matousek picked up the loose ball just outside his own area and again headed directly for goal. He was too fast for Plechaty and too strong for Meszaros and had a clear run on goal. After calmly rounding the keeper he stroked the ball into the empty net to make it 3-1 and seemingly game over.
The rest of the match fizzled out as a raft of substitutes, an ever increasing number of yellow cards ( 4 each in total by the finish ) and the visitor’s “game management” disrupted the rhythm of the game. Slovan appeared to have run out of ideas and the last chance of the match came to Bohemians in added on time, but after another swift counter, Kostl stepped inside the covering Prebsl but could only shoot tamely at Vliegen.
The statistics at the final whistle showed Slovan had 67% of the possession, but Bohemians were good value for their victory, their first ever in Liberec, and in Jan Matousek had the game’s outstanding player. With their pace on the break it was easy to see why they have such a good away record this season. The Kangeroos bounced back up to 5th place in the table, whilst Slovan remained in 9th.
Highlights : https://www.fortunaliga.cz/zapas/7373-lib-boh#video
FC Slovan Liberec : Vliegen – Plechaty, Prebsl, Pourzitidis ( Olatunji ) – Ndefe ( Kozak ), Cerv ( Meszaros ), Rondic ( Rabusic ), Doumbia ( Frydek ), Preisler – Valenta, Tupta
Bohemians 1905 : Jedlicka – Kadlec, Vondra, Hulka – Kostl, Janos, Jindrisek, Kovarik ( Dostal ) – Drchal ( Muzik ), Matousek ( Novy ), Prekop ( Necid )
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