Soucek: Teammates didn’t take Conference League seriously at first

Conference League Final with three Czech players in Prague’s Fortuna Arena. What more could you ask for. At the end of the big event for the local crowd, the pair of Vladimír Coufal, Tomáš Souček celebrated, the latter talking about the final on Monday.

Tomas Soucek is basically a West Ham starter. When he came to the club, he was playing for salvation. He managed to save it in the first half-season, and when he started the new one, he kept the team near the Top 4. The 2020/21 edition eventually secured promotion to the Europa League.

In it, the Hammers did well, dropping out only in the semi-finals to Frankfurt of Germany. They finished seventh in the league, which qualified them for the Conference League for the next season. The final of the competition was to be hosted by the Fortuna Arena.

“It was a huge attraction, I found out last summer. We were happy to get there and then we found out it was being played in the Czech Republic. It was huge,” Souček said in an interview with Radio Sport.

Initially, much was written in the Czech Republic about Slavija’s motivation to play a cup final in their own stadium. The thorny road through qualification revealed some problems, which were confirmed by dropping out in an easy group with Ballkani, Cluj and Sivaspor.

While the Sixers were motivated, for West Ham, as for other big clubs, the Conference League was clearly the second competition in the pecking order behind the domestic league. Yet the London side was the only one to pass through the group without losing a point.

“At the beginning the boys were thinking what the competition was like. That the English league was the main one and if we were going to go all out. I said from the beginning that we will go all out because it is something special when it is played at home,” continued the captain of the Czech national team.

The Hammers were giving a chance to the players of the wider squad in the Conference League. The only significant change came in the semi-final against Dutch side Alkmaar, plus of course David Moyes went into the final with the strongest squad.

“They didn’t take it so seriously at the start and gradually as we progressed they wanted to win too. In the semi-final I was nervous before the last step to Prague. We made itthrough and after the final it was a huge euphoria,” added Soucek.

The celebrations were already big in Prague, where over 20,000 Hammers fans arrived. The day after the final, West Ham were already celebrating at home in London. According to the British media, over 100,000 fans came to see the trophy.

Source: Radiožurnál Sport