Cohesion and dedication, Stránský names the keys to cup triumph

Just like last year, the Czech National Cup in small football was dominated by the Pardubice team, only the TFT place is called Laguna. They also have the coincidence that both Pardubice teams managed to win the penalty shootout twice in the play-offs. “The Pardubice region rules the Czech National Cup,” smiled Laguna striker Josef Stránský.

The latter had already collected the trophy for the winner of the 2017 national club championship, but the circle of favourites was much wider this year at the Prokopávka Sports Complex in Plzeň.

“To be honest, I didn’t have such ambitions that we would win. I’m a person who doesn’t have overly big ambitions, I’m humble, but there were certainly those in the team who believed. Our manager and founder of Laguna, Ludek Hanč, mentioned that we would field a competitive team for the Republic, so I was interested to see where we would be. I’ve only been involved in small-sided football since the fall, so I don’t know the quality of the teams. In the end, we built a strong team and we did well,” smiled Stránský.

Laguna lost its number one goalkeeper in the first match of the regular group, in which they beat Véska Olomouc 2-1. Vlastimil Mičjan was injured and did not take part in the tournament.

“We said in the cabin what would happen. We were thinking about what we were going to do. In the end, Šmery (Petr Šmeral – ed.), who more or less went with us as a playing coach, took over and quickly transformed himself into a goalkeeper. We knew that it would either be a total failure on our part or it would bring us together and push us to a better performance,” said the 25-year-old player.

In the second match Laguna lost to Red Team Příbram 1:2, so they had to make it through the last match of the group. The team of BK Roura Fellas Prague defeated the team 4::0. “The playing coach in goal said that our performance has to improve. After each game we sat down and said what we did right and what we did wrong. For me it worked, the performance was upward and we knew what we wanted to play,” said the forward, who also plays for the Pardubice Super League team.

Laguna entered the playoffs against a strong rival J-Elita Ostrava. The Pardubice team advanced after a 4:1 win. “We were humble in a way throughout the tournament, we did not have excessive ambitions, we played as a team, cohesively, our result was helped by a huge fight from the group. Our opponent defeated BKMK Brno in the group, which was the favourite of the tournament. We thought it would be very difficult, but we managed to win 4:1, which boosted our confidence. We found out that we can do it this way if we put a huge amount of dedication into the game,” he described.

In the quarter-finals, Laguna made it through the first penalty shootout, beating Union Brdy Příbram 3: 2. In the semi-final, they faced Ostrava Zábřeh, but the second goalkeeper Šmeral did not finish the match due to a sending off.

“First we had a big goal, which the goalkeeper pulled on the goal line, and soon the opponent scored. Šmery caught it, but the striker caught up with him, knocked him to the ground and emotions ran high, so the substitute goalkeeper got a red card,” Stránský recounted.

So another player from the field had to go in goal, this time David Lát. “Látys took over because from time to time in smaller tournaments in the villages he stands in the goal and goes to catch. He was the closest to it, so he didn’t hesitate and took the gloves. After Šmery was sent off, we went to four for two minutes and we told ourselves that we just had to hold on, which we did,” said Stránský, who became the team’s top scorer in the Czech National Cup with six goals.

After a 1:1 draw, the penalty shootout followed and Laguna was again successful. “The guys kicked great in both shootouts, converted all the penalties and the guys in goal caught at least one penalty in the matches, so they gave us a chance to move on,” he said.

Both Smeral in the quarterfinals and Lát in the semifinals scored key saves in penalty kicks. “Neither of them counted on getting the gloves and going to the net, they both made really great saves. They dealt with a lot of difficult situations and made saves that even a top goalkeeper would not be ashamed of. They also helped us with their feet in the passing game, which gave us a lot of calmness, we could play the opponent, or keep the ball when we had a pass,” praised his teammates Stránský.

In the final, the Pardubice team beat the Prague team G.I.C La Plate de Cünde 3:0. “We already knew it was very close, we had no choice but to work hard and do our best for each other. In the end, we managed to score quite a few goals in quick succession, we were already 3: 0 up at the half, then it was just a matter of not making any more mistakes and finishing the game with dignity,” described the striker.

Laguna will play in the Champions League of small football, which will be hosted by Herceg Novi in Montenegro from August 31 to September 4. “I know the guys who played it a year ago very well and they said it was great. The level there is of course different, we are already putting the team together, we are ready to go and represent the Czech Republic,” said Stránský.