At least Liberec can take some solace in having shipped 5 goals to a talented team (and mostly when down a man)... Zlin let Ostrava do it in 5-1 demolition. I think Ostrava are a realistic contender for a 3-5 slot, but not a team I would call potent so that sort of scoreline does not bode well for Zlin. Slovacko are in for a long season of 1 goal matches if they don't find a striker... although today they at least managed 1-0 so 6 points from 2 matches even if there is a glaring weakness that will limit their ceiling to mid-table.
I still rate Ba Loua higher, but I will say that Kayamba is playing the best he has in a while these last few matches and showing some inspirational qualities that Plzen really need. I think in terms of setting and camera angle the Dolicek is one of the best grounds for a TV broadcast, especially at sunset. Zizkov's is similar.
Bohemians 1 - Plzen 2 Plzen continue to do just enough, which considering missing Kalvach and Bucha... and Cermak and Kopic... and Beauguel isn't 100%... is a fairly promising start.
Champions Leagues draw updates: If Slavia advance as expected against Ferencvaros they will play either CFR Cluj (slight favorites) or Young Boys Bern. Quite frankly, Slavia's seeding paid off as they will be substantial favorites in both rounds so probably a >80% chance of making the group stages. Sparta if they manage to upset Monaco, they will need to keep it up as they will play the winner of Genk vs Shaktar Donetsk of Kyiv (substantial favorites in that tie). I won't say it's impossible, but it is very improbable. ~10% chance of making group stages.
Europa League If Jablonec somehow beats Celtic then they get AZ... Very unlikely <5% chance. I think Jablonec are noticeably worse than last season quite frankly, so they would probably get more potential joy from Conference League any way. I do hope the Dominik Plestil has some good performances, extremely quick young winger that has a lot of potential upside on an otherwise sort of aging team. Europa Conference League Plzen if they get healthy have potential for an decent run in conference league, but there are still some questions about this side. They have two more rounds of qualifying and should be favored in both, beginning this week with Welsh side The New Saints and after which they will face either CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria) or Osijek (Croatia). I would say even with the absences they are probably >66% favorites to make group stages. Other scenarios. If Slavia fail to advance in CL they will drop to a Europa League playoff, but I'll address that scenario if it happens. Similar Jablonec most likely will drop to the conference league playoff. Sparta are guaranteed Europa League group stages even if they lose.
Sparta announced that Ladislav Krejci I suffered from a pulmonary emoblism on Sunday night. He has been released from the hospital, but it sounds like he will be out sort of indefinitely (at least several months) while being monitored. Scary stuff for a healthy 29-year-old, hopefully he does well in recovery.
Sparta are sticking with Pavelka and Dockal despite the success of younger players last weekend. It's interesting their bench has a few young players from Sparta B (who have probably been the best team in 2. Liga through 2 rounds). 1️⃣1️⃣ Do utkání proti Monaku vyšle trenér Pavel Vrba tuto základní sestavu: 🧤 Nita - Wiesner, Panák, Hancko, Polidar - DMK, Pavelka, Sáček, Dočkal, Pešek - Hložek. #acsparta pic.twitter.com/3Oqn1bAsnC— AC Sparta Praha (@ACSparta_CZ) August 3, 2021 At home, I can maybe see a scrappy draw or 1 goal win, but this Monaco team should bypass Sparta's defense to easily for them to have a chance over 2 legs.
Huge ask of Panak and Polidar today, and even Wiesner defensively, though he seems to be somewhat improved in that aspect so far. I don’t have a problem with Pavelka for this level, especially with Krejci II absent, but Dockal continuing to start ahead of an already better and potential generational talent is absurd. Terrible news about Krejci I. Best of luck to what is hopefully a full recovery, and while this news is totally unexpected and unrelated, I still can’t help but feel the usual injury woes at Sparta are already beginning.
Can't say that Monaco look that impressive either, but just on direct play they have a few half chances against this defense. Sparta really just the one opportunity, maybe 1.5.
This is where Sparta really miss the offensive threat of Krejci II when they aren’t creating much from open play. Panak is cool as ever on the ball.
Not sure what is happening. That was a clear Monaco goal, but they spent some time looking at it for some reason.
Can only hope the delay was due to drinks being thrown at the Monaco players, but realistically it’s *another* incident of racism.
What's the longest stretch Sparta Ultras have ever gone without being morons during a European match? I remember pitch invasion 2 years ago, and apparently a few tried in Vienna last round as well. This season they've brought it to domestic competition as well against Olomouc.
The broadcast ironically showed Beauguel in attendance before the Monaco goal. Almost foreshadowing the events to come since he’s been a victim of racial abuse in the country, and if I’m not mistaken, by Sparta fans too I believe?
Europa League is a better competitive fit for them anyway, way too may weak points for Sparta to compete any higher.
Everything Danicek wrote here is true, but posting it just in English isn't really going to engage with the people that need to hear it (Czechs abroad, or that consume more English media likely have a far different view on matters of race than Ultras). I'm not saying this to pick on him, his purpose in that account is to report Czech football in English, it's more that if we had more discourse like that from major Czech Language media sources it would be more beneficial Just one more thing before I sign off for the day: pic.twitter.com/rw2RXq9oRO— Czech Football 🇨🇿 (@czechfooty) August 3, 2021 Instead the Czech language discourse will probably just be Sparta posting this hollow image again: 📰 Na začátku každé sezony připomínáme náš neměnný postoj k rasismu, vůči kterému se klub trvale vymezuje. Máme tu tradici hráčů jako Bony, Leo Kweuke nebo Costa, rasismus si ve Spartě nepřejeme. Je to naše dlouhodobé a jasné stanovisko. #acsparta➡️ https://t.co/AXZOZ3rSjW pic.twitter.com/DKLSkQmCbC— AC Sparta Praha (@ACSparta_CZ) July 27, 2021 Which to the first tweet's point more or less accompanied by the message "but we have black friends."
Holes and Masopust are back from their post EURO break and starting for Slavia. I am surprised they put Kuchta (who had a knock recently) over Schranz (who just netted a hat trick)
Slavia are creating a lot of havoc, but need to make better decisions. I suspect they will win both today and in Prague if I had to pick, Ferencvaros are decent but Slavia look better overall. There is a weird scenario where Slavia have a very technical left side (Oscar-Plavsic-Stanciu) vs a very direct right side (Bah and Masopust), the poor decisions have mostly come from the right, but so has much of the havoc.
To balance out the technique and directness it seems Slavia have moved Bah left and Plavsic right... Silhavy would be proud.
And Slavia concede a world class own goal out of nowhere, Kacaraba plays the ball back towards Kolar who non-chalantly fails to control it.