Season is still a ways off, but the draw for the first two rounds of Europa League qualifying were held, and we have two teams in the 2nd Round: Viktoria Plzeň awaits the winner of: Teuta Durres (Albania) v Metalurgi Rustavi (Georgia) Ml. Boleslav awaits the winner of: Bohemians (Ireland) v Thor AK (Iceland) Ml. Boleslav is replacing Sigma Olomouc who were banned from the competition by UEFA as fall out for the match fixing scandal (a dumb decision, it was years back and essentially resolved now). I must say that I like both squads chances of making it to the 3rd qualifying round.
So, I was bored this weekend, and decided to make quick list of Top Five Young Players to Watch in Gambrinus Liga! 1) Jan Chramosta - 21 - Forward - Ml. Boleslav - Quick young striker, and probably the most best finisher among the young Czech players: he scored 10 goals in the league last year and this summer made headlines for scoring 7 goals in 2 matches with the Czech U-21 team (the opponents were Andorra/Montenegro, but he's also scored against England and in just about every youth match he's played). 2) Ladislav Krejčí - 19 - LW - Sparta Prague - Truthfully last year was a break-out season for him, so much that many fans wanted him included to the Euro 2012 squad. Tremendous left foot, great delivery/shots on set-pieces, very creative player, and good pace. 3) Vladimir Darida - 21 - CM - Viktoria Plzeň - Needs no introduction after his breakthrough into the national team during the run-up to Euro 2012. From what I've seen, he's quick, comfortable on the ball, and has good vision/awareness. Already drawing interest abroad. 4) Václav Kadlec - 20 - Forward - Sparta Prague - What to watch for here is how he bounces back from missing much of last season injured. He's been a top young talent in the league for a few years, and though he is forward, he is equally known for playing almost like a creative attacking midfielder. 5) Marek Hanousek - 20 - CM - Viktoria Plzeň - Has been a fixture at Dukla the last few years despite his young age, and is currently a member of the U-21 national team. Predominately an attacking midfielder, his performance earned him a transfer to Plzeň. Some others of note: Josef Hušbauer - 22 - CM - Sparta Prague Tomáš Přikryl - 19 - RW/F - Sparta Prague Anes Haurdić - 22 - CM - Jablonec *Bosnian so not a Czech NT prospect Jaroslav Zelený - 19 - CB - Hradec Králové It's very possible some of the top 4 will be gone by seasons end (or even by seasons beginning). If Renato Kelic (21yo Croatian CB) stays with Liberec he'd be top 5 easily, but he reportedly has some very attractive offers elsewhere in Europe and everyone assumes is gone.
D'oh, forgot about Slovan Liberec's Round 2 of Champions League draw as well: Slovan Liberec v Shakhter Karagandy (Kazakhstan) I honestly know nothing about Kazakh football, other than that will be a long trip on the away leg.
Transfer updates for all Gambrinus Liga clubs The official window hasn't even opened yet, but some things already jump out: 1) Sparta's reaction to being in poor financial shape: invest in expensive players that play positions they have plenty of depth at... Specifically, the fact that they have reportedly made Lafata top target. 2) Based on all the signings, Plzen is expecting to lose (more) players moving abroad, but they are bringing in some promising replacements too (Malakyan, Hanousek). 3) Outside of Kaufman, none of the Brno signings seem too exciting, and I hope we can get Dani Chigou back on loan for the season, he was a crucial "super sub" during our turnaround last season. I'm excited about this season, there is a lot of young talent and Brno is back in the top-flight.
The Super Cup between Liberec and Olomouc is set for 20 July (in Liberec). The first round of Gambrinus Liga will take place on 28 July. Which means, I'll probably miss all of opening day (I will be at the Olympique Lyonnais v Montpellier (Trophee des Champions) match at Red Bull Arena.)
Dukla signed the one-time Brno wonderkid Luboš Kalouda, who's career stalled at CSKA Moscow (which always seemed like a poor choice in the first place considering the other clubs interest). He is replacing Dukla's former promising youngster Hanousek, who has moved to Plzen. I was kind of hoping we could bring him back to Brno.
Good news for Sparta fans, it looks like Krejčí is sticking around another year barring a very big offer. He just signed an "extension" (extended from 2016 to 2017), but more significant is he was on a part-youth contract and is now has contract more fitting a key player, meaning he got a considerable raise. As a national team fan (and someone who dislikes Sparta), I do want/expect Krejčí to go abroad before long, but I respect his decision to stick around an additional season. He just turned 20, can still improve with another season as a starter, and said in a recent interview that he wants to help the team that brought up since a youth prospect win a title before leaving.
Brno's preseason results actually actually haven't been bad (not great either), but I still look at our roster and see some missing pieces and very little depth. Still have a few weeks to strengthen the squad, in particular we are in need of some additional attacking players.
Sigma Olomouc get another trophy with a 2-0 victory over Slovan Liberec in the Super Cup. I didn't watch this one, just matchtracker. Liberec off to a really unconvincing start this season, even though it appears they had the better of play for several stretches while Olomouc was content to defend and look for the counter.
Interesting comment from the owner of Brno: We are trying to sign a new forward or two, and apparently one of the prospects is American.
Predictions? Here are mine: Champion - Sparta Praha Went back and forth between them and Viktoria Plzeň (who I'd personally prefer), but Sparta just look a bit too loaded this season. Next two (Europa League) - Viktoria Plzeň and FK Mladá Boleslav Viktoria was an easy pick, even without the players that moved abroad. As for FKMB, I'm going out on a bit of limb, but I think adding Magera to their attack is huge as his physical presence will really compliment Chramosta's speed and technique (can't forget they have a third forward, Mareš, that will also benefit from this). 4th Europa League spot (Czech Cup) - ? No idea since anything can happen in the cup, so I'll just make my pick for next two highest league finishes, in no particular order: Slovan Liberec and Sigma Olomouc. Liberec have looked very mediocre this summer, but the talent is certainly there to compete in the top 3. I think Sigma with the match-fixing scandal behind them will definitely be top half of the table. Relegation - České Budějovice and Vysočina Jihlava Now, of course, I would never have picked Brno, but even without that bias, I still feel these two teams will ultimately fall (though Brno will certainly be among those fighting for survival). ČB lost their best forward as Ondrášek made his mid-season loan in Norway permanent. Jihlava lost even more, a good manager, when Roman Pivarnik left to take the job at Sigma Olomouc.
Terrible news for Ml. Boleslav (and the national team's options up front ) Jan Chramosta has joined the ranks of promising young Czech forwards that suffered a major injury over the last couple of years (Necid, Vydra), tore his ACL in training. Unfortunate timing as this was expected to be his last season before moving abroad.
I will be slightly interested this season in Slovan, since 3 Ukrainian guys are playing there now. Today they got through, with difficulties to the next round in UCL qualifying, where they will face Cluj. That will be a difficult test.
Indeed they did, all from Dynamo Kyiv if I'm not mistaken. I think Butenin and Morozenko played in the Super Cup against Olomouc. I don't quite know what to make of Slovan this season. I don't think they have much chance of repeating as champions, but with their roster they should be at least a top 4 team. They've played poorly in CL so far though, and it looks like their new signings (they added 7 new players this summer) are still adjusting.
Jablonec have won the first match of the season, 2-0 over Banik Ostrava. I caught the last few minutes including a very good goal from Lafata.
Great start for Brno, picking up a 1-0 win away against FC Slovacko, young defender Luděk Pernica of all players scored our first goal of the season off of a corner kick. I was unable to watch the match, but the match tracker summary and highlights indicate that for the most part we outplayed them.
Results so far this weekend (attendance): České Budějovice 1 : Sigma Olomouc 0 (2212) Dukla Praha 1 : Sparta Praha 1 (4257- that's basically capacity for Dukla's stadium) Příbram 0 : Slovan Liberec 4 (1700) Slovácko 0 : Zbrojovka Brno 1 (6152) Jablonec 2 : Banik Ostrava 0 (4045) Teplice 1 : Ml. Boleslav 0 (4780) Viktoria Plzeň 3 : Hradec Králové 0 (10310) That's a pretty dire result for Příbram both on the field and in the stands, but it looks like Liberec finally put together a commanding performance. I watched Plzeň play this morning and they were very impressive again, and were just short of two sold-out crowds in one week. Monday is the match between Slavia : Jihlava
Slavia 3 : Jihlava 3 (7136) Crazy match, Jihlava was up 3-0 with 21 minutes remaining, but Slavia managed to come back with a 90th minute equalizer.
Josef Šural picked up the first hat-trick of the season today in Slovan Liberec's 3-2 victory against Dukla. Exciting match, and some good attacking play for Slovan despite playing without Štajner (who is in the hospital following a minor embolism).
Well, I was starting to write about how pleased I was with Brno's play in the first half, but then we concede a goal in stoppage time. Terrible goal to concede, and against the run of play. It was an own goal, keeper parried it straight into a defender and the deflection found its way in the net. Other than that we looked good though, Pavel Zavidil was a great signing, good playmaker and hit the crossbar on a free-kick in the first half.
Brno! Milan Halaška with the equalizer in the 67th minute. Teplice was unable to clear following a corner and Milan Halaška gets the header on the 2nd cross.
FT 1-1 Disappointing not to get the win, Lamine Fall had a header just over the bar in the 82 min. He's been a solid sub early this season. Glad we didn't let the fluke goal at the end of the first half take us out of the match. Next week will be a tough one, at Plzeň. Another bright spot, the crowd, 5760. I was hoping for over 6000, but a couple of years ago when we were relegated average attendance was in the 2000-3000 range, so definitely a move in the right direction. Other matches so far (attendance): Sparta 2 : Příbram 1 (0... Sparta wasn't allowed to play in front of a crowd for this match as punishment for a fan riot last spring, I believe their next home match may be the same, I'm assuming the 0 won't count towards attendance stats though) Ml. Boleslav 3 : České Budějovice 2 (wasn't reported) Sigma Olomouc 2 : Slovácko 0 (5171) Slovan Liberec 3 : Dukla Praha 2 (4232) Banik Ostrava 2 : Slavia 2 (8913) Hradec 2 : Jablonec 2 (3959)
Vysočina Jihlava 1 : Viktoria Plzeň 1 Didn't really have time to watch this one, but I had it playing while I was doing some work. Plzeň controlled play much of the match, but especially in the 2nd half, but still got very lucky on their equalizer as Kolář was clearly offside. Jihlava have some talented young players though, and created some excellent chances. Good atmosphere, attendance of 4150 (Jihlava's stadium officially seats 4075). The attendance in the Ml. Boleslav match was 2863.
At halftime in Plzen the score is Viktoria 1 - Zbrojovka Brno 1. We're a bit lucky to be level as the host side certainly had several chances late in the half. If we can get any sort of result in this match it will be huge.