No team has out performed their resources in recent seasons more than Slovacko, and they deservedly get their first ever silverware winning the cup of Sparta. The smallest city in the current top flight gets a big night of celebration: V Hradišti sa slaví! pic.twitter.com/4TRxa542G9— 1.FC Sʟᴏᴠᴀ́ᴄᴋᴏ (@1_FCS) May 18, 2022
UEFA competitions begin next week. CL 2nd Qualifying Round Viktoria Plzen - HJK (FIN) Eh, Plzen probably should win this one, but I just don't see a roster that makes me confident in calling it a lock that they advance. The winner is seeded in the next round, UEFA conference League 2nd League Slavia vs St Joseph's (GIB) This should be pretty easy for Slavia honestly Sparta Prague vs Viking (NOR) Similar thoughts to Plzen really
Plzen won the first leg in Helsinki 1-2; result seems to be better than the overall performance. Either way they are now fairly decent favorites to advance going into the return leg at home.
Fairly safe to say Slavia are through, rolling in the away fixture and will be up a man for about 55 minutes. Sparta are generating some shots, but are goalless near halftime at home. I think they need a 2 goal win to be in the clear going into the return leg.
I say Sparta have generated, they've actually generated 15 and it's not eve halftime, at some point just on probabilities you assume one must go in.
60th minute, Sparta are up to 22 attempts with 0 goals. Really only 3 have been should of definitely scored level good chances, but this would be a brutal match to reflect on if they don't get a good result.
Slavia have blown their fair share of chances too, but have a 4 goal lead on the road so less impactful. I am getting the impression that Sparta may be fading either from exhaustion or just discouraged by their own ineptitude (you'd think they'd be accustomed to the latter by now).
FT St Joseph's 0 - 4 Slavia Honestly, Slavia could have easily won by 7+ goals, but either way they did what they had to. They can start prepping for Panathinaikos. Sparta 0 - 0 Viking Tragic, absolutely tragic. Completely dominated the match, but only produced 3-4 really dangerous chances. I didn't really see much from Viking that makes me think they can beat Sparta on any field without penalties, so presumably would still favor Sparta just slightly.
Plzen is Plzening to start to match, they struggled in the first 10 minutes with basic possession and gave up a real chance, then took the lead with a diving header on a standard FK situation (great Kalvach delivery). The disconnect between their overall performance and results at times is how they've stayed relevant. Not quite ready to say they are through, but it's close.
Okay, now they are through. Since their goal the match has looked theirs for the taking and they now lead 2-0 (4-1 agg). Sykora took advantage of some loose defending and put one away from the top of the box.
Okay Plzen are through and no contest, they are now running HJK out of the stadium. The one interesting left is the pace they are scoring, Plzen have scored in the 11', 21' and 31' minute...
Plzen's opponent in the next round will be either Sheriff Tiraspol or Maribor; who are 135 minutes into their tie with 0 goals. Tiraspol had a moment last year so would presumably be tougher, but Plzen should have a decent chance to advance against either. By advancing in this round, Plzen guaranteed at least Europa Conference League Group Stages. Big help for our coefficient to have a guaranteed group stage.
Plzen did not keep their every 10th minute pace up, but they have added 2 additional goals in the 2nd half. If you told me 8 minutes in that Plzen would dominate the way they did, I wouldn't have believed it. Amazing performance since the 1st goal. I looks like Sheriff Tiraspol just took a late lead in the other match, so they are most likely the next opponent.
From a coefficient standpoint, all eyes are on Sparta today. I do think they are the better team, but they need to rediscover how to score without Hlozek. If they advance they will play either Motherwell or Sligo Rovers which would be a fairly easy path.
Sparta have picked up where they left off just pinning Viking back from the opening whistle. Kuchta just has a 1-v-1 but the keeper made a big save.
Fortelny, who I think has been Sparta's best player over both legs so far forces another big save on a volley. I've been down on Sparta's finishing, but they've really been a very dominant team possession wise. Some of that is that Viking are truly just parking the bus again, but at least so far in the first 20 Sparta are creating more dangerous chances than they did last week.
Slavia is also, playing and again are starting to pummel their Gibraltarian opponents (2 goals up on top of 4 from last week). Hard to read much into performances against such an opponent, but good to get some easy coefficient points.
Last few minutes, starting with a sequence of corner kicks Viking has moved to higher press that is causing Sparta some nervy moments.
The match has evened out a lot. Viking are not a team that will overwhelm with possession, but they've found a way to create the kind breaks that they want and have one some corners with it. Sparta need to adjust and find the space that is being opened
Goal! Sparta adjusted and found the space. Zeleny receives a great cross from Wiesner to take a lead Viking answered fast with a very good finish from distance. I don't know what to predict with this, Sparta are better in every way by the eye test, but not enough so to feel decisive.
2nd half has been a much less interesting watch the parts that I've been able to see. Holec had to make one alert save, but otherwise just half-chances by either team. Sparta wants the match slower and Viking want it frenetic.
After blowing a million chances through the first match and a half, Sparta literally just gave the game away. Hancko with a weak tap back gives Viking the easy finish. Sparta continue to be terrible, especially for a team with their budget. Slavia went up 5-0 then passed the ball around, their next round is now hugely important for our coefficient hopes.
Brno came out of the opening weekend with the same number of points as the big 3 combined (which is 1 from our deserved draw with Slovacko). Very rare occurrence that Sparta and Slavia both lost on opening day, and Plzen likewise only managing a draw. I'm not too surprised, Slavia have some potential but have to incorporate some new players. Sparta actually played better in their opening European match than I expected, but the 2nd half against Viking was more or less my preseason expectations for them... They have enough individual quality to compete for another disappointing European campaign, but at this point their seemingly one-thousandth manager since Lavicka left is already on the hot seat and most likely Rosicky is also on the verge of being moved to a more honorary position than one with influence. Plzen haven't looked that good on paper for a few years, but that didn't stop them last year, and in fairness they also don't look particularly bad.
Sheriff 1 - 2 Plzen Plzen again begin the round by scrapping out an away win from match that felt more like a draw, so 3 wins worth of coefficient points and counting. Plzen now solid favorites to advance to the playoff.
Liberec were the biggest negative surprise at this point last season, and this year they seem to be the biggest positive as they followed up beating Sparta with a 5-1 win over Teplice. Brno also off to a surprisingly good start as we beat Sigma in Olomouc, so we've taken 1 point from a top 4 team last year and have a road win. Definitely a promising start to bank points early. I was optimistic after how we dominated last season in 2. Liga, but that doesn't always translate after promotion.