December 16, 2023
Today saw these diaries make a second visit of the season to the Czech Fortuna Liga, after having reported on Ceske Budejovice beating Bohemians 3-0 back in August.
I have never visited the ground of either of today’s two sides, but I have seen Mlada Boleslav play on two occasions. The most recent of these was in 2016/17 when they lost 1-2 at Slavia Prague, with the other time being a 2-0 win at Dukla Prague in 2014/15.
Today’s game saw a meeting between 7th and 4th in the table. Last season Mlada Boleslav finished 9th whilst Slovacko ended in 5th place, missing out on a place in the Europa Conference League by 2 points.
FK Mlada Boleslav
Mlada Boleslav is a city in central Bohemia with an estimated population of around 45,000 and is located 70km north-east of the capital Prague. However, it is most famously known as the location of the Skoda car factory, which is now owned by Volkswagen. Skoda are the sponsors of the club and have provided funding to enable the town’s football club to reach the top level of Czech football, and then keep them there.
Indeed, in 2005/06 Boleslav achieved their best ever performance by finishing in 2nd place, and finished third in 2006/07 and 2013/14. In 2006/07 they knocked Marseille out of the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds, and then drew with Paris St Germain in the group stages.
Home is the smart 5,000 capacity Lokotrans Arena, although it is a three-sided ground. However, if this is good enough for Oxford United, the city which is the home of the Cowley Mini-factory, then it is good enough for the home of Skoda !
The average attendance home attendance for Mlada Boleslav this season has been 2,861, the second lowest in the league.
Mlada Boleslav went into today’s game with an 8-3-7 record but their form at home had been decent with 5 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses. They were the only side so far to beat Sparta Prague, recording a 3-1 home win in late October, and they also featured in a remarkable 9-5 win at Zlin. However, their recent form had been poor, with losses to Slovan Liberec, Plzen and Slavia Prague and last time out a 2-2 home draw with Karvina.
The most notable name in the Mlada Boleslav squad is probably ex Slavia, Spartak Moscow and Basel centre-back Marek Suchy ( 44 caps ). Midfielder Marek Matejovsky ( 15 caps ) played for Reading when they were in the English Premier League but is now 41 years old. Left-back Martin Suchomel is on loan from Sparta Prague, whilst captain Ondrej Karafiat was formerly with Slovan Liberec.
Striker Abdulla Yusef Hilal has played for three Czech clubs and won 67 caps for Bahrain. Midfielder Benson Sikala had 35 caps for Zambia and attacking midfielder Solomon John is Nigerian and signed from Second Division Vlasim.
Midfielders Daniel Marecek and Vasil Kusej were the top scorers with 6 goals each.
1 FC Slovacko
Slovacko are based in the Moravian town of Uherske Hradiste, close to the border with Slovakia. Their journey for today’s match was approximately 330km, which would take around three and half hours by road.
The name Slovacko was adopted in 2004, prior to this they were known as FC Synot.
Having been in the top division consecutively since 2009/10, Slovacko have been one of the most successful sides in the Czech Republic in recent years, finishing 4th in both 2020/21 and 2021/22 and 5th last season. The won the Czech Cup in 2021/22, beating Sparta Prague in the final. Their best performance in Europa was probably a 2-1 win at Nice in the 2021/22 Europa Conference League.
Home is the 8,121 capacity Mestsky fotbalovy stadion, where the average attendance this season has been 4,696.
Slovacko started the day in 4th place, level on points with Plzen but having played one game more. They had a 9-5-4 overall record, and were 3-2-3 away from home. They went into today’s game on an unbeaten run of 6 games. Their 4 loses had come at Sparta Prague, Jablonec and Slavia Prague, plus a home reverse to Sigma Olomouc. Top scorer was midfielder Marek Havlik with 10 goals, with many knowledgeable observers wondering what more he needs to do to add to his one cap.
The Slovacko squad was a packed with experience. Midfielder Milan Petrzela ( 19 caps ) was set to make his 500th appearance in the Czech Republic today, whilst defenders Petr Reinberk and Vastimil Danicek had both made over 300 appearances for the club, with Havlik closing in on that number. All three are one club men.
Ex-Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Michal Kadlec won 67 caps whilst midfielder Michal Travnik has 5 caps, having also played for Jablonec and Sparta Prague.
The overseas players in their squad include Curacao striker Rigino Cicilia, who numbers Port Vale and FK Suduva on his CV along with several Dutch clubs, ex-Wacker Innsbruck left-back Merchas Doski, who has won 5 caps for Iraq, and ex-Flora Tallinn Estonian striker Vlasiy Sinyavskiy ( 24 caps ).
Matchday Information
The weather at the 15.00 local time ( 14.00 UK time ) kick-off was sunny and 5 degrees.
Tickets for the match were 200 CZK ( £7 ) with students, disabled persons and children between the ages of 6 to 15 charged 100 CZK ( £3.50 ). Kids under the age of 6 were allowed in for free.
The match was live streamed on Bet365, who made Mlada Boleslav 6/4 favourites, with Slovacko at 9/5 and the draw at 23/10. The two sides had already met earlier in the season, playing out a 2-2 in August in match in which Boleslav had two players sent off.
Both sides were playing in their first choice kits, with Mlada Boleslav playing in all blue, whilst Slovacko were in all white.
One of the referee’s assistants today was Lucie Ratajova, who ran the line for the England vs Denmark match in the recent 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia.
Around 30 visiting fans were in the away end on the opposite corner of the ground and initially made a lot of noise, but they were soon drowned out by the Boleslav drummers.
Match Report
The game almost had a goal in the first minute, as Slovacko left-back Doski strode forward unchallenged and let fly from 20 yards, but keeper Trmal was equally to the task and made a diving save to push the ball around the post for a corner.
The home side responded shortly after but Hilal sliced horribly wide from the edge of the area with his left foot, but Boleslav came closer in the 6th minute when Karafiat played a long ball out of defence down the left-hand channel to release Kusej, who squared the ball across the edge of the penalty area to Hilal, who blazed wildly over the bar from a good position.
The lively start to the match continued, and in the 11th minute Slovacko full-back Reinberk cut inside from the right and shot wide from 25 yards with his left foot. Boleslav immediately went back down the other end with a flowing move involving Kubista and Kusej, but the low ball from the left was well claimed by the diving Slovacko keeper.
The best chance of the match arrived in the 18th minute for the home side when Maracek played in John down the left, and his deft chip reached Hilal on the 6 yard line. The Bahrani took one touch but then fired well over from close range.
Hilal’s direction was again awry with an optimistic 30 yarder after good chest control, and then after he made a run from the half-way line, Kadlec was able to make a great sliding tackle to play the ball to his keeper.
Slovacko had a good chance of their own when Havlik was allowed to turn on the 6 yard line but his shot bounced nicely for the diving Trmal to push away for a corner. The visitors were starting to look dangerous, with Holzer shooting wide, and then Travnik’s ball into the penalty area beat one defender before being cleared.
Slovacko keeper Heca needed to be brave to dive on the ball at the feet of Kusej after a through ball, after which Hilal headed poorly wide from 6 yards after a cross from the left by Kusej.
Hilal continued to be involved in most of the action, not necessarily in a good way, and was lucky to avoid a yellow card after clumsily treading on the heel of Petrzela, but the first card of the game was shown in the 39th minute after Sikala chopped down Reinberk. Havlik’s left-footed free-kick from the right-hand side was sent towards the near post where Danicek ran on unopposed, but his flick on the stretch failed to inconvenience Trmal. Earlier, Havlik has seen his short from the edge of the area blocked after Holzer’s flick had created some space.
The yellow cards were beginning to flow, as Kostka tripped Travnik, then the same Slovacko player was brought down by Hilal, who by now could have been off had a card been shown to him a few minutes earlier.
At the interval the game was still scoreless, and the possession statistics showed 50% for both sides. Slovacko made one change at the break, replacing Cicilia, who had been anonymous in the first half.
The first 10 minutes of the second period were uneventful, with perhaps the highlight been a fake ambulance siren sounding from the stands after Slovacko’s Holzer lay on the ground injured.
Slovacko did force consecutive corners before Valenta incurred the referee’s displeasure for bring down Kusej to stop a counter-attack for his side’s first yellow card. A half-chance for Boleslav ended with the effort from Karafiat almost hitting the roof of the stand behind the goal.
With 58 minutes played Slovacko countered down the right-wing but Suchy was on hand to intercept the low cross at the expense of a corner. Havlik’s delivery created panic in the home defence, and the ball reached Reinberk beyond the far post. The Slovacko full-back was able to lay the ball back across the 6 yard line where Valenta was free to stab the ball into the top of the net to open the scoring. 0-1 after 59 minutes.
Boleslav’s attempt to immediately strike back floundered on the solid Slovacko defence. Danicek quickly reacted to prevent a pass from John reaching Hilal, then Kadlec was too strong for Pulkrab to shepherd the ball out of play. Kostka then played a ball behind the defensive line for John to run onto, but the Nigerian’s thunderous shot from an acute angle was tipped over the bar by Heca, the save looking more spectacular than it really was. Danicek then defended well to take the ball off John at the expense of a corner.
As Mlada Boleslav pressed forward they were leaving gaps at the back, and Slovacko substitute Juroska sped down the right wing giving his side a 2 on 1. His pass across goal towards Sinyavskiy was slightly behind the Estonian, who need to turn and take a touch, allowing Sakala to get back and make the block.
With just under 10 minutes remaining Matejovsky’s chip into the Slovacko area was flick-headed across the edge of the penalty area by Pulkrab, but Kostka’s attempt on goal was blocked by a combination of Danicek and Kadlec.
With 5 minutes left to play, Simek got onto the end of a cross from the touchline from Karafiat but his flying header from close to the penalty spot went a couple of feet wide of the post.
With added on time being played, keeper Heca came off his line to gather an attempted through pass and received a kick on the knee from Simek. After the predictable melee, Simek received a yellow card for the foul play, and Danicek for his reaction.
Slavacko looked to be comfortably running down the clock to take the three points but there was still time for one last piece of action. With 6 minutes of the 4 added on time played, a long throw into the mixer caused confusion in the Slavacko 6 yard box, and after a scramble, the ball reached Jawo, and the Gambian substitute’s shot on goal from a very tight angle struck the post and went off for a corner. The set-piece was flicked on at the near post, but no Boleslav player had gambled to run to the far post so the chance was wasted, and the referee’s whistle signalled the end of the game.
Overall, Slovacko probably deserved their victory in a game of few clear-cut chances, as they took theirs whereas Boleslav rarely looked making an impression against an experienced, well organised defence. As a result, Slovacko moved upto third place, three points ahead of Plzen, who albeit had two games in hand, and on this display look good candidates for a top 4 finish.
Highlights : https://www.fortunaliga.cz/zapas/7625-mbl-fcs#video
FK Mlada Boleslav : Trmal – Kostka, Suchy, Karafiat, Suchomel – Kubista ( Matejovsky ), Sakala, Maracek ( Ladra ), Kusej ( Simek ), John ( Jawo ) – Yusef Hilal ( Pulkrab )
1 FC Slovacko : Heca – Reinberk, Kadlec, Danicek, Doski ( Kalabiska ) – Valenta ( Hoffman ), Havlik, Petrzela ( Juroska ), Travnik, Holzer ( Sinyavskiy ) – Cicilia ( Mihalik )
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