Bohemka will head to the Viktorie Plzeň stadium on Sunday. In the article you will find an overview of the last matches of the West Bohemians, their strengths and the votes of assistant Stanislav Hejkal.
This week, the national team coaches announced the names of their chosen ones for the upcoming meetings of individual national teams. Even before the nominees themselves leave their clubs, the program of the fifteenth round of the Chance League remains to be played. The Kangaroos will head to the west of Bohemia, where they will be welcomed by Viktoria Plzeň in their Doosan Arena. Coach Miroslav Koubek’s men were able to build on the successful campaign from last season in the summer. In the European Cups, they were able to outwit their opponents in the preliminary rounds and, thanks to progress over Ukraine’s FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih and Scotland’s Heart of Midlothian FC, they could enjoy participation in the Europa League‘s main group. In it, they have an unbeaten streak, when they drew 3:3 at Frankfurt, 0:0 at home with Ludogorets Razgrad, and most recently also in Thessaloniki (known as Thessaloniki) 2:2. It was in Greece that Plzeň regretted the loss, as they lost their two-goal lead in the final ten minutes.
Looking at the domestic competition, the team around Lukáš Kalvach is doing even better than it was in the last league year. Before this round, she is in second place, where she has a two-point lead over third-placed Sparta. She was able to beat the reigning champion recently at home by the narrowest margin (1:0), and thus got ahead of him in the league peloton as well. Mladá Boleslav was the only one to take points away from Štruncový Sady during the season so far, winning a point for a 1:1 draw. The string of four matches without defeat ended only in the last round. Plzeň left without points from Slovácko’s court, to whom stopper Kukučka scored three points.
Assistant coach Stanislav Hejkal returned to Viktoria Plzeň’s last league match: “It must be remembered that Slovácko played very well in that match. It was organized, compact, but also creative. On the contrary, Pilsen played without ideas, slowly and did not come up with anything to overcome the opponent’s defensive block. She could also have signed a demanding schedule, when she had a match with Sparta behind her, as well as a cup match. Another match away from the domestic competition is ahead of her. Another thing is important to note. If you want to win the title, you simply have to manage even such mundane matches as the one in Slovakia. Pilsen couldn’t do that. However, I think that this will not happen to her in the future.”
The Kangaroo coaching staff will not draw too much from the cup match: “In the direction of our mutual match on Sunday, their match against Real Sociedad on Thursday cannot be considered very beneficial. The Spanish team plays in La Liga, and that is a term in itself. They present themselves with completely different football, they play demanding, technical, everything is fast. We will not get much out of this match. Pilsen will not be in the role of favorites in this match, which can be an advantage for them. On the contrary, in Sunday’s league match, she will already be assigned to that position and the situation will be reversed. We will prepare for Pilsen based on league duels, for example with Slovácko and Sparta.”
LOOK AT THE OPPONENT
Under the guidance of experienced coach Miroslav Koubek, Viktoria Plzeň is known for its versatility, with which it approaches every opponent. In defense, he relies on the trio of Dweh – Markovič – Jemelka. In the match against Sparta Prague, the West Bohemians benefited from rebounds, which they managed to collect in front of the Sparta players and get chances. Viktoria is trying a lot to use the quality of striker Prince Adu, who is supplied by players from the sides. Midfielder Pavel Šulc is also in excellent form.
Youngsters from Pilsen also got opportunities in league and cup matches. Twenty-one-year-old Alexandr Sojka started in six matches, striker Christophe Kabong was stopped by an injury at the beginning of the league. But the youngest member of Viktoria’s squad is only sixteen years old. Midfielder Jiří Panoš will celebrate his seventeenth birthday next week, but he has already managed to jump into six matches in the league and three in the Europa League.
“They will have just finished a cup match. The second thing is that Pilsen knows how to prepare very well for every opponent in terms of tactics. The coaching team doesn’t change the line-up much, I don’t expect many changes. Viktoria will certainly want to impose their game on us, which is based on speed and very well-equipped attackers. Pilsen also has a very good trio of central midfielders, Červo, Kalvach and Šulce. They belong to the best trio in our entire league. We will have to be very careful about them.” revealed his expectations from his opponent Stanislav Hejkal.
MUTUAL MATCHES
Doosan Arena will be the venue for the fortieth match between them on Sunday. Twenty-one of them were won by the West Bohemians, nine ended in a draw and the same number of matches were won by the Bohemians. The last three matches always ended with a result of 2:0. In two cases the West Bohemians won, once the Bohemians. The mutual balance also speaks in favor of Pilsen in other aspects. They scored 71 goals in the duels, while Bohemians scored 42. Pilsen took a total of six penalty kicks, including five at home. Viktoria finished once even with a numerical disadvantage, Klokan twice. The last time was during his win in the Doosan Arena, when Adam Kadlec received a red card.
The duel played in Pilsen took place last year at the beginning of September. The West Bohemians took an early lead with a goal by Durosinmi, and Cada increased the lead before the break. Even the Kangaroos’ offensive effort after the break did not change the result. In the spring, Bohemians welcomed an opponent from the west of Bohemia in Ďolíček. However, the spectators were soon frozen by coach Koubek’s team. First, Chorý took advantage of the losses in the middle of the field, who beat Reichl after escaping. Soon after, Mosquera’s easy cross ended up with Šulec, whose hard shot rippled the net of the Kangaroos’ goal for the second time.
CHANGES IN STAFF
Excrement:
Robin Hranáč (defender) – transfer to TSG Hoffenheim (Germany)
James Bello (forward) – loan at FK Pardubice
Tomáš Chorý (forward) – transfer to SK Slavia Praha
Arrivals:
Florian Wiegele (goalkeeper) – transfer from DSV Leoben (Austria)
Svetozar Marković (defender) – transfer from FK Partizan (Serbia)
Cory Séne (defender) – transfer from SV Lafnitz (Austria)
Tom Slončík (midfielder) – transfer from FC Zlín
Prince Kvabena Adu (forward) – transfer from Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih (Ukraine)
Christophe Kabongo (forward) – transfer from Lommel SK (Belgium)
Ricardinho (forward) – transfer from PFC Levski Sofia (Bulgaria)
The head coach’s assistant does not foresee too many changes in the Pilsen line-up: “Coach Koubek rarely changes the lineup. He puts emphasis on keeping synergies between ranks and players who have certain habits and wants them to stay in the game. I expect minimal changes. The only major rotation occurred in the cup match with Ústí nad Labem. Plzeň wants to win matches in the cup and the league, aiming for promotion to the Champions League.”
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