it's like a weekend away after a stressful time at work...instead of drowning in gloom over the Charlton player, I'm off to Plzen, the home of Pilsner Urquell of course, and just round the corner from there is the stadium of Viktoria Plzen. They stand proudly at the top of the league, but breathing down their necks are the moneybags and sleazebags of Sparta Prague, and they go head to head on Saturday.
A friend is an avid Viktorka fan, (and is a client of mine at Pilsner Urquell) and I'm going to be a Viktorka fan too. Thy have never been anywhere near champions before. Imagine if Blackpool had actually won virtually every game before Christmas, but then became exhausted, and Man U had closed the gap to two points before they visit Bloomfield Road. That's the status of the game on Saturday. And Viktorka have more reason than most to hate Sparta (although everyone hates them). Pavel Nedved was developed by Viktorka. When Sparta came calling for him, Viktorka negotiated a big sell on fee. After a couple of years, Lazio came in for Nedved. At the time Sparta's owners also owned a Slovak club, VSZ Kosice. So what did they do? They sold Nedved to Kosice for a song, and the very next day - I'm not making this up - Kosice sold him to Lazio for £4m.
That's just typical Sparta, the favoured club of the old Communist elite. Now they are led by that red-card collecting plank Tomas Repka, who has cleverly marketed himself as the hard man of Czech football - not that he has much competition. Unfortunately they are on a run, and I must admit that I fear they will win. Czechs always blink in the face of the 'bigger' guys - thats why they always bottle it with the Germans, and Viktorka's 12 point lead is now down to 2. Their ground too is hardly intimidating, looks like the Withdean, and with exactly the same capacity. They play in Palace stripes too. But on the other hand they are a friendly club who happily hook up with the brewery to sell scarves to visiting foreign fans, with the legend in English "You'll never drink alone". And that's another thing. I get a glass of PU from the source before the game - even my wife says it is beer from heaven. So if you got this far, spare a thought for Viktorka on Saturday, it kicks off at 16.20 UK time.
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Comments
;-)
Viktorka deservedly won 1-0, thus stretching their lead over Sparta to 5 points. The title is theirs to lose now, as I see it. Great little club and team. I dont think I can work out how to include the fotos. Too bad. It is like the Withdean but with the world's best brewery towering behind it. A sell out - 8,000, most of whom stand, and pay £4. Not sure if they can get away with this in the Champions League, which is where they are heading. Anyway, when i got there the Sparta muppets had taken over the brewery area, so my mate led me off to another pub, with the same unfiltered Pilsner Urquell, it looks cloudy and tastes like - well you can taste every ingredient.
I really worried that Viktorka would freeze, but after a dodgy two minutes they clicked into gear, typical Czech close passing game, and playing totally without fear (how long since I saw that?) The goal came on 16 minutes, a belting free kick from their captain and former Sparta icon Pavel Horvath. Dominated the rest of the half even after Sparta's 300 or so muppets tried to disrupt things with flares. Second half was more of a midfield stalemate but what was impressive was their workrate and willingness to put a foot in everywhere. I've got to admit that Tomas Repka, when it came to the football, was immaculate,, as he was against Liverpool. But he is surely related to Dennis Wise, he just cant help opening his mouth and trying to start something so his was the most popular of about 10 yellow cards in what was never a dirty game. At the end Viktorka did a lap of honour as if they'd already won the league, and then the Czech police gave a masterclass in how to make a drama out of 300 or so visiting fans. Saddest thing was that all my friend's mates knew the name Charlton Athletic and wanted to know how it was possible that we have fallen so low...
It was just great to see good football and to see 11 players give their all for 90 minutes, and get rewarded for it. And thankfully they don't play in stripes, its red and blue, like Spain. Viktoria Plsen "You'll never drink alone"... I think I'm in love :-)
Viktorka still haven't blinked.
They are going like a train, won their last two away games 5-0 and 3-0. Sparta keep winning but the defeat at Plzen is starting to look decisive. Here is the table
1 FC Viktoria Plzeň 24 18 4 2 59:21 58
2 AC Sparta Praha 25 18 1 6 41:15 55
3 FK Baumit Jablonec 24 14 5 5 51:22 47
4 SK Sigma Olomouc 25 12 5 8 42:23 41
5 FK Mladá Boleslav 24 11 7 6 41:29 40
TV messes the weekend up here as in England,Sparta won yesterday but Plzen play tonight, live on TV. They are home to Slavia Prague. If they win that, they will be six points clear with five games to go. Slavia is another story with an English connection. Suddenly the extent of their debts have engulfed them. They have to pay 300k immediately to avoid being expelled from the league, but even worse, their owners appear to have tried to swindle ENIC, the same guys that control Spurs, and who have a stake in Slavia. The owners are extremely dodgy, despised by their own fans. But while they think they are heavy boys on their own territory, these guys have badly underestimated ENIC. You do not cross the North London Jewish mafia, anywhere in the world. I know the marketing director of Slavia, an attractive woman who wishes me to find her a new job (its a tough job, mine, but someone's got to do it:-)). Well, I like Slavia and hope they solve their problems, but today I'm 100% with Viktorka.
I'll post the result later.
keep it up...
Thats Today isn't it ?
;-)
I dont think Czech football has much of what we'd call heart, but all decent Czech teams have the ability to punish any sleeping opponent with a lightning strike.
Viktorka now have a 4 point lead with five games left. I think they will do it, because they roll over all the lesser teams, especially away. They didnt look at all nervous tonight, , just their centrebacks decided to do their Liera/Doherty impersonation.
The other notable thing was to see that they have already started work on improving their Withdean, knocking down the terracing at one end. To keep the capacity up to their dizzy 7,500 in the meantime, they wheel in a mobile 'stand" just for the games.