Jeez that is strange. March to September. That is probably one of the shortest tenure with a match actually played in world history.
It's also just weird since Hapal was unconvincing and on the hot seat by the end of last season that they didn't just make the change during the break. They've spent a lot and clearly have some individual talent if you watch them, but they look really unmotivated & disorganized. Scasny is stepping back in for the interim role, which is probably best they can do for now since he already knows the team, but it will be interesting to see what direction their search goes for a permanent replacement.
Checked in briefly on Pribram today since one of their young players Jan Matousek has been getting some praise lately. It seems well deserved and he has 2 goals, definitely expect he will be moving on to bigger things soon.
Slavia is looking really good again, up 2 at halftime but it could easily be 4 or 5. Their midfield has a lot of talent and they are very in sync to start this season.
Slavia won 4-0 in the end, but the performance was far more dominating than even that score. Karvina are not good by any standard, but they did the same thing to a solid Olomouc team. They've definitely started this season well prepared, especially considering that their biggest off-season signing hasn't joined the squad yet, hopefully they can carry that into Champions League qualifying.
Watching the first half of Jablonec - Sparta. Sparta with a lot of mostly meaningless possession, their best chance was a shot just wide at the end of the half. A combination of poor finishing and bad luck from Jablonec, or else they could have a goal or 2. They play a very direct style with 3 up front, it gives up a lot of the ball but does put pressure when they go forward. Apparently Czech league matches are broadcast in Poland, I was briefly very confused what I was listening to on this stream until I noticed the "na zywo" indicator 30 seconds in.
Finished 1-2; Sparta played better in the 2nd half and had two good goals, but they still don't look very convincing. Jablonec scored late on a corner, but were too worn out by then to mount much effort for an eqaulizer. They missed 2 first half opportunities that should have been goals. Final match of week 2 is tomorrow, Plzen hosting Liberec.
Full week 2 results: Mladá Boleslav 0-4 Sigma Olomouc Příbram 4-2 Bohemians 1905 Opava 1-2 Zlín Slovácko 2-1 Baník Ostrava Slavia Prague 4-0 Karviná Jablonec 1-2 Sparta Prague Teplice 5-2 Dukla Prague. Plzen 1 - 0 Liberec Sparta and Plzen are winning, but they aren't looking very convincing doing it. Slavia meanwhile have looked fantastic both matches. Mlada Boleslav look to be in real trouble. Pribram the biggest surprise on the other end. Good crowds at Plzen and Slavia despite the hot weather, but Opava apparently had to play in Brno for some stupid reason so only a bit over 1,000 showed up and imagine mostly from Zlin. Even if their stadium is an issue surely they could have played somewhere closer to home like Ostrava.
Sparta, Slavia and Plzen are all bidding for Matousek from the sounds of it. One report saying that Slavia is closest to satisfying Pribram's terms. To be honest, that's a terrible destination for him unless they plan to loan him back for the time being, he'd be competing with Husbaur and Baluta for playing time.
Sparta are most likely going to lose, and it's hard to not be kind of glad. Their fan behavior is embarrassing. Unacceptable by their organizers to allow such a pitch invasion as well. They should have still advanced, they had dozens of chances, hit the post 2 times, still got the two goals they needed, then gave up a lazy/pointless penalty. Our UEFA coefficient is in Slavia and Plzen's hands.
Marek Bakos is leaving Plzen, will be going back to Slovakia at Trnava last season's league winners. It's a move that needed to happen, he's 35 and Plzen have at least 3 younger forwards ahead of him. I was still a bit surprised since Vrba's one weakness with Plzen is hyper-loyalty and Bakos was on if his earliest signings in 2009.
Slavia are looking fairly comfortable again this week in their last match before Champion's League qualifying. Currently up 2-0 at about the 60 minute mark against Opava. The first goal was a great strike from Husbauer: I will be interested to see how they do in qualification, they definitely have a Champions League midfield, but their defense is a bit untested.
With the exception of a few weeks in 2004, I never much cared for Baros, always diving on the field and acting like more accomplished player than his poor goal-scoring record in top leagues ever shown off it... That said it's nice to see how much joy he has playing as the influential aging veteran role for his home club in Ostrava.
Results so far this weekend: Slavia 3 - Opava 1 Banik Ostrava 3 - Pribram 0 Sigma Olomouc 0 - Viktoria Plzen 1 Liberec 2 - Teplice 2 Zlin 1 - Jablonec 1 Sparta 1 - Slovacko 0 Karvina 3 - Mlada Boleslav 4 The Monday night match is Dukla - Bohemians 1905. Another heatwave weekend (there were mandated water breaks in most matches). The Big 3 are all still perfect although all looked shaky at times this week.
With so few available group stage spots, there are no easy draws in this years Champions League League path qualifying. While not impossible, and arguably easier than the other side of the league path (PAOK, Fenerbace, Benfica, and Spartak Moscow), Slavia's path is Dynamo -> Liege/Ajax. I think they can definitely beat Dynamo, but will hold off on any opinion about the next stage until it does/doesn't happen.
Dukla 0 - Bohemians 1 The Table after 3 weeks: 1. Slavia 3 0 0 10:1 9 2. Sparta 3 0 0 5:1 9 Plzeň 3 0 0 5:1 9 4. Zlín 2 1 0 6:4 7 5. Ostrava 2 0 1 5:2 6 6. Bohemians 1905 3 2 0 1 5:5 6 7. Teplice 3 1 2 0 8:5 5 8. Liberec 3 1 1 1 3:3 4 9. Příbram 3 1 1 1 5:6 4 10. Olomouc 3 1 0 2 4:4 3 11. Slovácko 3 1 0 2 3:4 3 12. Ml. Boleslav 3 1 0 2 6:10 3 13. Jablonec 3 0 1 2 2:4 1 14. Opava 3 0 0 3 2:7 0 15. Dukla 3 0 0 3 3:9 0 Karviná 3 0 0 3 3:9 0
Reduced to match tracker since I can't find a stream that works on my office network. Late in the first half, reads like Slavia are getting more chances but it mostly kind of half chances more real scoring opportunities. Whoever wins this round will very likely play Ajax based on current scores.
Slavia seem to be moving more on to the front foot as we move into the last 25 mintues, Zmrhal a narrow miss on the corner and most of the updates the text updates the last 10 minutes are either Slavia half-chances or Dynamo fouling.
FT Slavia 1 - Dynamo 1 Dynamo's goal looked almost offside on the replay that I've seen (not great quality so I'll assume it wasn't), Slavia defense still looked to be monumentally distracted by a 2nd ball on the field on the throw-in. Slavia scored from a penalty in stoppage time that I've not seen. The penalty goal was crucial as being down an away goal going to Kiev would have been tough. According match stats Slavia out-shot Dynamo 23-8 (though only 6-2 for on target), so they definitely are capable of putting pressure on their back line.
The good news for Olomouc is they have a very winnable Europa League qualifying 3rd Round matchup against Kairat (Kazakhstan). The bad news is assuming they advance they play the winner of Sevilla and Zalgiris.
Sigma won the home leg 2 - 0. Nice to see a Czech team going out and comfortably handle their opponent in Europe (and it should be noted that this Kairat team beat the Dutch side AZ to get here).
It's becoming very apparent that Jan Matousek may already be the best player in the league. He has a goal and 2 assists, and many additional moments of individual skill for Pribram today so far today. It's especially impressive because Pribram are not a particularly good team (although better than expected), they were 2. Liga last season. I know Slavia just spent 2 Million Euros on him but he may wind up being to them what Schick was to Sparta, a player they never actually see play (Schick's breakout season was on loan to Bohemians 1905). Would still rather have rather seen him go to Plzen since he would have been more likely to actually be brought in to play for a better club this season.
It's also becoming clear the Dukla may be the worst team in the league (although Karvina still in that discussion as well), but that is not so unexpected. Results so far this weekend: Mlada Boleslav 0 - Slavia 1 Pribram 4 - Dukla 0 Opava 1 - Liberec 1 Jablonec 4 - Karvina 1 Opava has played a bit better than their record would indicate, so nice to see them get a point from a bigger club. Slavia sort of mixed things up to not over exert key players before the return leg in Champions League, but still won and controlled the match. Jablonec easily handled Karvina at home as would be expected.
Plzen defeated Zlin 1 - 0 in a battle of former national team managers. Plzen are still a strong team but there just feels like something is missing this year compared to some of their past teams. Zlin are solid, they are likely to be contenders for one of the final spots in the Championship group.