First task accomplished! Baník will be among the elite despite the loss at Sparta, will he keep the top four?

Baník Ostrava footballers will be in the group for the title after a one-year break. It was not decided by their attractive hit of the 29th round of FORTUNA:LIGY on Letná on Saturday, where thanks to an unmanaged passage at the turn of the halves, individual mistakes and the rampage of the dreaded trio Birmančevič (1+2), Kuchta (2+1), Haraslín (1+0) they lost to Sparta Prague 3:4, but a day later Liberec lost to Hradec Králové (0:0). But they still have to confirm the favorable fourth place, which they will try to achieve on Sunday in Vítkovice against Slovan.

Fans of Baník Ostrava on Letná (April 20, 2024) | Video: Petr Kotala

It was clear that if one of the three closest pursuers loses in this round, Baník will be assured of participation in the group for the title after last year’s hiatus, regardless of what he will bring from Prague. He did not score, and on Sunday, Mladá Boleslav won 2:1 in Pardubice, bringing them within a point of Slezan. However, the other two competitors lost – Slovácko with Pilsen (1:1) and Liberec with Hradec Králové (0:0) – and with a deficit of four or five points, it is so 100% certain that neither of these teams will be ahead of FCB in the regular season. doesn’t get

However, for Slezan, it will be about maintaining the advantageous fourth place, i.e. the position for the superstructure, where the profit from the basic part is transferred. However, coach Pavel Hapal’s wards could be sure of many things already after Saturday. Sparta were active, tactically prepared, overall it was an interesting up-and-down spectacle. Buchta and Tank had chances, on the other side, Kuchta’s puck was picked up by Markovič, who replaced the sick Letáček in the goal.

Banker? No. Kpozo was guarding Ronaldo, Baník was not recommended to him: I go headlong into everything

“He looked good, even though he conceded four goals, I wouldn’t blame him for any of them. I don’t know if he could have solved anything there, but he still held us,” praised Hapal. “We knew that they are very strong in the three-man play, so we wanted to attack them high. But we didn’t want it at all costs, for example in the opponent’s 16. Rather, on the contrary, so that we don’t close the spaces after winning the ball and we can go into faster counterattacks. We didn’t do that because we always messed up a pass, we weren’t accurate,” he revealed the tactics.

The turning point was the phase between the 41st and 52nd minutes, when Birmančević opened the scoring and Kuchta added twice. “I regret the start of the match. We entered it well, we had enough situations that we could solve and score a goal. Maybe it would have turned out differently for us. Then we paid for individual mistakes in defensive activity,” further evaluated the coach, who returned to the defensive four.

The first two goals for Sparta were made possible by stopper Filip Blažek. “They were simple situations, especially the second goal, when Bláž caught the ball. In the first one, the boys could have played it right away, not letting the ball drop,” regretted Pavel Hapal, who, however, defended Blažek.

From hope to a pusher: Rigo about Baník, leaving home, fans and a celebratory gesture

Krejčí then reduced the deficit with an own goal, but when Haraslín returned the three-goal lead to Prague in the 63rd minute, Letná shouted “let them go”. However, the scenario was the other way around, goals by Klíma and Kubala brought drama. “Sparta was afraid,” observed Hapal.

“When we went down with Burma, we thought we had it under control. And you see it, we get two goals and then we knocked each other so that there was no set piece, a center that Ostrava would convert. Then we’d look at each other like fools in the cabin again,” the author of two goals, Jan Kuchta, breathed.

“Birma’s goal before the break helped us. Then we thought we’d run into them because they had some mistakes at the back. We specified how we should move, where we should stand when they have a game build. Two goals resulted from this. After them, the superiority and control of the match was clear, distinct,” he returned to the key passage.

The former coach of Baník is pulling Ružomberok to Europe: We play for everything every weekend

“We had hints of chances after the Spartan loss. We have very good and fast transitions into attack. I was hoping we’d score a second contact goal, then we were talking on the bench that we need a third and it’s going to be nervous at the end. That happened,” he was happy. He sniffed.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t solve the final phase in the first half. A more accurate pass, maybe a better shot. But for my taste, we made a lot of stupid and simple losses, which Sparta didn’t have,” concluded Hapal, saying that the four goals conceded were too many.