Plzen start Europa League today, specifically in about an hour and a half. They're coming off a very contentious league match against Sparta that they lost, and traveling to Hungary to play Ferencvaros, their Pot 2 Away match. A point from this would be an okay start, 3 points a great start, but it's not as crucial as Slavia's opener was to their full chances. Plzen's remaining Schedule: H - Malmo (Pot 4) A - Roma (Pot 1) H- Fenerbahce (Pot 2) H - SC Freiburg (Pot 3) A - Panathinaikos (Pot 4) H - Porto (Pot 1) A - Basel (Pot 3) Fairly tough lineup considering some of the other teams they could have drawn. I might be paying more attention to the Lyon match that happens at the same time, but will be checking in on both occasionally.
Plzen have taken an early lead, and by all accounts fully deserved as they nearly scored in the opening minute and have held the pressure up. And it was quite a goal for Durosinmi who took a flick on from Doski about 40 yards out, rinsed the centerback twice and great finish from the top of the box.
Ferencvaros down to 10 men with 6 minutes of the first half remaining. Real opportunity for Plzen to get 3 points from an away match.
Plzen did a Slavia impression in Europa League and conceded a cheap goal late to lose 2 points. That isn't quite a tournament killer for them, but I think Plzen are in a bit of a rebuild this season so still not sure what to expect. In fact the first step of rebuild will be a new manager as Koubek decided it was time to retire after the disappointing Europa result followed by a loss to Zlin this weekend. It's also possible they will be making some big investments in the winter window as they've now officially been taken over by Michal Strnad, by some estimates the wealthiest of Czech billionaires. This is the 2nd billionaire take over of the last few weeks, as Pardubice were bought by Karel Prazak after his attempt to take over Plzen himself was unsuccessful (he also had tried to acquire Sigma Olomouc). I'll be interested to see where this new found interest in domestic football by the country's wealthiest people goes. I could see it being very good or very bad depending on the owner. I say this as a Zbrojovka Brno fan, and we've gone from nearly broke and dead to one of the richest clubs in the country, with an owner that is talking about building the new stadium fully out of pocket.
Considering all the remarkable ways that Slavia have blown points in Europe the last year, it's almost nice to just see them just get completely outplayed by a stronger opponent. The away fixture at Inter was always going to be among the toughest, so no real surprise or impact on their chances here... unlike when they full on blew it last time.
Tentatively a decent week in Europe. Plzen with a big away win against Roma greatly bolsters their chances of advancing (and a big early cap feather for Hysky), Slavia with an away draw against Atalanta, and Sigma with a rare point against Rakow. I say tentatively, because Sparta's match was abandoned early due to weather, so they would need to win for a good week.
Sparta lost, it was a road match so probably not a big hit to their overall chances. The clips I saw from yesterday make it seem like the first half of the match probably shouldn't have ever happened in the first place, massively water logged pitch.
Minus a few make up matches, the 2.Liga has reached it's midway point, and it feels like Zbrojovka are starting to pull away with it. The team that has done the most to keep up with is Taborsko, and while they have played well I just don't think they have the squad to sustain a whole season (and they've dropped 4 points in their last 2 matches). Artis Brno and Opava look more like they could contend on paper, but have been inconsistent (indeed Opava are borderline in a collapse). I don't really see any team but these 4 (maybe even 3) having an impact on the promotion battle. In fact the drop off not just in points but even more so goal differential is staggering after the top 4. I of course will have a lot of time to think about the rest of the season as Brno are about to enter that excruciating 3 month break after 1 more match each in league and cup.
It's crazy how much the last few years have skewed the expectation on UEFA coefficients. Frankly we've dropped a lot of points that would have made this an unambiguously great year, but even in this meh year we are on pace to have at least 2 teams advance (Slavia was always a reach Champions League, and Olomouc have been completely unpredictable), we will likely get to around 10 pts again (in line with last few years) and will have stayed in the top 10. (Plzen and Sparta are very likely through. Slavia is more or less out and Olomouc is?)
Final matchday in conference league league phase. Sparta are currently cruising to a place directly leading Aberdeen 2-0 in the first half at home. Olomouc just went behind against Poznan, this would be a remarkable choke job on their part to be in a strong position with 2 matches left then lose against a team from Gibralter and at home against a Polish league team. As results stand now they would just barely advance unseeded to the knockout playoff round, but I doubt that holds for 60 minutes, they need points.
Sparta are through the round of 16, and with it a nice coefficient bump. Sigma lost, but still managed to hold the last advancement place. Considering 2 matches ago they looked like they had a favorable draw to at least be seeded for playoffs they are now stuck with either Lausanne or Crystal Palace. Greece is no longer our main challenger for the top 10, Poland have had a massive season and now are in 11th place. I think we're still clear though.
Sigma Olomouc have an on paper somewhat playable opponent in the knock-out round with Swiss side Lausanne-Sport. Sparta in the round of 16 have 4 possible opponents, and only one of the (AZ - Netherlands) really seems like they would be a challenge. If I was ranking squads on paper Sparta is probably around the 6 or 7th strongest of remaining teams so a semi-final could be a realistic target depending on how the draws play out as their seem to be fewer ringers in Conference League this year. Plzen are guaranteed advancement from the league phase, but a conceding a late equalizer against Porto made their path to a seeded advancement trickier. I would say if they win in their final match at Basel they advance seeded, any other result is likely not enough. They've mostly been a team of draws this year (2 Wins, 5 Ds, 0Ls). Slavia was never a contender in Champions League, but they still underperformed in Europe for a 2nd straight season. Domestic performances are still strong, but big picture I think Trpisovsky/Slavia is getting a bit stale and it might be time for both to look for something new. In general, I still think it looks like we can expect to hold on to 10th place in coefficient although the margins are shrinking on both sides. We're 1.5 pts clear of Greece, 1.8 pts clear of Poland and about 1.5 points behind Turkey for 9th. A strong Sparta run is our best chance to move up, and I think despite a strong year from Poland with who is remaining that Greece is back to who we are trying to hold off.
As always, everyone say thank you to Viktoria Plzen for actually going all out on getting results in Europe... they have really elevated our coefficient in recent years. Plzen got the away win at FC Basel, great goal by Janos and then the trademark defending. While they left some points on the table, they did ultimately make it through the league phase unbeaten (so many draws...) and will go into the knockout round seeded as the 14th place finisher. They will take on Panathanaikos in a crucial coefficient showdown. If this matchup sounds familiar, it's because they played in the league phase, with Plzen getting a road point in an exciting 0-0.
Olomouc 1 - 1 Lausanne Probably needed a home win to advance, but still in it. Admittedly I never expect much from teams that aren't Plzen or the Prague S teams so getting even a few coefficient points is bonus. Panathinaikos 2 - 2 Plzen Big away result for Plzen, if they win it at home we more or less are guaranteed an additional top 10 coefficient season. Currently we are 10th in the coefficient race, Our season total surpassed 10.0 points for the 3rd straight season, before the introduction of Conference League and the league table format a normal solid season was 5 or 6 points and an exceptional one like 8 or 9, so a very different world now that we have benefited from. We are 1.1 ahead of Greece and 2.2 behind Turkey at the moment. At this point though points are much harder for the smaller leagues which is why a Plzen win would be crucial.
Brno are 14 pts clear with 10 matches left and have beaten several of the would be contenders already this spring so the remaining schedule looks like a stroll. After several cycles of barely getting promotion or backdoor promotions due to licensing it's nice to see an honestly dominate squad and energized fan base heading to the top flight next season.
Zbrojovka Brno are officially promoted with 6 matches left. It was actually Artis Brno holding Taborsko to a draw that made it official, but it's been a foregone conclusion for months now. I am too experienced with Brno disappointment to make bold predictions of next season, but for the first time since like the 90s the club seems on a good trajectory.