In the fight between the holders of the last three championship titles, Viktoria Plzeň and Sparta Prague, it will not be about the first place in the table. Slavia is sitting firmly on it and will be watching closely which of the pursuers will lose in a direct clash. She would be most happy if, in the event of a tie, both of them.
The match in Pilsen’s Doosan Arena in Štrunovy sady will not send the winner to the throne, but it will be important and dramatic nonetheless. Both opponents will enter it with the intention of succeeding, they will use the best they have.
The home team has one big trump card, boasting an aristocratic and even regent title. His name is Prince Kwabena Adu and he boasts a fabulous form.
In the lineup for the Europa League round
The Ghanaian legionnaire proved this in his last appearance in the Pilsen jersey in the 3rd round of the Europa League at the ground of the Greek team PAOK Thessaloniki. In the famous ‘tomb’, as the nickname of the local stadium sounds, he did not lose his courage and set up both goals of the Czech team.
He headed Milan Havel for the first one, the second fell after his sharp shot, which the home goalkeeper couldn’t keep. Matěj Vydra had an easy finish. And Adu missed a goal at the beginning of the match due to the intervention of VAR for offside.
He was unstoppable, but he left the field in the 72nd minute when he was the victim of a forced substitution. After Dweh’s expulsion for Pilsen leading 2:0, it was necessary to deploy a defender, the experienced Lukáš Hejda came in, Adu made room for him. Unfortunately, Viktoria did not keep the lead…
His excellent performance did not escape international attention, Adu broke into the best eleven of the 3rd round of the Europa League. A truly worthy award.
Great performance against Baník
However, he already shone in the previous league match, in which Pilsen plundered Ostrava’s defense. He scored two goals – he made his debut in the Chance League two rounds earlier against Mladá Boleslav, becoming the hero of the match.
Prince Kwabena Adu
- Born September 23, 2003, Sunyani – Ghana
- Player career: Bechem United (2013-2022), Isloč Minsk Region/Belarus (2023), Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih (2023-2024), Viktoria Pilsen (2024)
Coach Miroslav Koubek did not spare words of praise. “We work with him on a daily basis, every week he moves,” he pointed out the progress of his charge. “I’m starting to perceive our requirements, as far as a phase other than individual, they have to cooperate more, participate in the press,” found the coach famous for his demandingness and shortcomings. However, the positives clearly prevailed. “He’s making progress. He can hit, he is the man of the moment,” Koubek said.
To poison his life
The Ghanaian forward is literally dazzling with his latest performances. “He has the form of a pig, he is a difference player. He will be very dangerous for the Spartan defense,” admits Tomáš Řepka, one of the legends of the Spartan team.
The master stopper is also looking for instructions on how to guide the African legionnaire. Better to say don’t let him run wild. “He’s a speed type with great technique on the move, which doesn’t sit well with any defense. But Martin Vitík, although it doesn’t seem like it due to his tall figure, is not slow,” Řepka points out to the young Czech representative. “And above all to double him,” he bets on cooperation in defense.
Stopping the already running Prince is very difficult, almost impossible. “Don’t let him take over the ball, don’t let him turn with it, always keep him under control,” advises the 2000 European Championship participant.
And he also throws in some more subtle recommendations. “To decide him,” Řepka is not opposed to expedient means. “Push him, push him, step inconspicuously on his leg, load him during fights,” he pulls out the tried and tested means. “And even if you say something unpleasant to him or use a gesture,” he is not afraid of the psychological impact either.
He got to know their effect very well when he was involved in the Italian Serie A or the English Premier League. “That’s how it goes with African footballers. Twice they play great, five times they are invisible because someone can knock them down,” he emphasizes.
His followers in the Spartan defensive chariot will not have it easy. “But he has to make it,” according to the holder of four Spartan titles, there is nowhere to turn away.
He came from Belarus
The first name Prince does not refer to royal descent. “It’s completely common in the former English colonies,” reveals the player’s agent Pavel Zíka from Global Sports, who represents the Ghanaian striker in the Czech Republic.
And it reveals his complicated path to the Pilsen team. He caught the attention of Ghana’s Bechem United, where he excelled as a scorer in the youth categories. He was transferred to the A team at the age of sixteen and continued to do well in front of the opponent’s goal.
A Moldovan agent negotiated a transfer to Europe for him. To Belarus. “Adu didn’t know what he was getting into, that the war was raging nearby,” reveals Zíka about the hostile environment of armed conflict in this part of Eastern Europe. “He heard bombs exploding, artillery salvos,” he explains of the difficult conditions.
However, football was a solution for him. “He didn’t give in, he continued to work on himself, even in Kryvyi Rih, because the competitions continued at the club stadium, they had to run to cover several times during the game,” he says, things that are hard to believe for a person in a peaceful environment.
He likes it in Pilsen
Pilsen scouts noticed him in August during a match-up in the 3rd preliminary round of the European League qualification. Adu also made his mark in the rematch (it was played in Košice), and the idea of how to get him immediately arose. “Áda Šádek is a man of action, everything was agreed quickly,” Zíka acknowledges the business skills of the Pilsen boss.
The stated price of the specialist portal transfermarkt.com is 700 thousand euros (about 17.5 million crowns), but behind the scenes there are rumors that it has risen to a million euros (about 25 million crowns). The top man of the Pilsen club saw great potential in him, and as it turns out, he was probably not wrong.
Adu is very happy in Pilsen not only in terms of football. “They go to the city, they see streets full of people, full shops and cafes. That was not the case in Belarus,” Zíka reveals that his charge has become comfortable even in his private life.
On the prestigious list
He had known about the exceptional talent of the African footballer for a long time. In 2020, when Ada was still playing in his native country, he was included in The Guardian’s Next Generation 2020 project among the sixty most outstanding talents in world football. Just like Jamal Musiala from Bayern, Florian Wirtz from Leverkusen, Dutchman Xavi Simmons, Slovenian talent Benjamin Šeško from Leipzig or ex-Spartan Adam Karabec.
He stepped out of anonymity. “My sons Filip and David, who also work as player agents, pay close attention to these rankings and lists. And then they also contact the hopefuls, offering them interesting clubs,” reveals Zíka.
Adu was not unknown to the family. After gaining permission to represent him for the Czech Republic, Zík approached some clubs to see if they would be interested in the young striker. “Sparta, Liberec, Mladá Boleslav,” he calculates. “But there was no response,” he says.
Now Adu will start in full form against Sparta. In the match for second place in the Chance League.
