Tipsport Malta Cup: I like to chat with my countrymen, says Martin Švejnoha, assistant coach of the Austrian team

Are you happy about this result?

Of course I am. Although this is mainly a preparation, we came to win. We want to succeed in every match, that’s logical. It would be wrong if it wasn’t.

This is your third time at the Malta Cup. Haven’t you got tired of this island?

I’m sure it hasn’t. The conditions for training here have always been great, and you like to come back to a place where you know it and know what to expect. He knows how it works. And the tournament just keeps getting better. The teams involved have quality, there are already six of them, and playing in two stadiums, it’s getting harder and harder to succeed with them. It is also advantageous for us that we are playing foreign opponents that we don’t meet otherwise. The confrontation is important.

So you stay in Tyrol, Austria, with the proviso that you fly to Malta in January.

It’s in my contract. So next year again.

How do you welcome the opportunity to meet the players you played with in Czech clubs?

It’s always very nice, every year I meet someone. This year, for example, the Liberec coach Lubos Kozel, whom I met in Pln, as well as Martin Fillo and Venka Procházka from Zlín. We have a short chat, what’s new in the Czech Republic, how it’s going in the clubs.

As a citizen of the Czech Republic, did it bother you that you did not vote in the first round of the presidential elections?

I didn’t. There’s no embassy in Malta, you’d have to go all the way to Italy, to the Vatican. I’m sorry. But we’re here for football, it’s our job, there’s nothing we can do.

You’ve been working in Austria for 12 years, you’re fluent in German. But what about your charges? Have they learned any Czech?

I’ve been influencing them a lot. One more year and I think they’ll be able to graduate in Czech.

You taught them the classic Czech game of football. Are they good at it?

They’re trying, but it’s mostly about lightening up, adding some fun to the training. And it’s obvious that the Slavic peoples are more playful.

Austria and the Czech Republic are both landlocked countries, they don’t have a sea. Have you dipped into its waves?

Not yet, but I’m about to, I’ll make it. At least get my feet wet.

When a team wins a trophy, and you win the Czech final, they usually throw the coach and assistant into the water. Do you prefer the pool or the sea?

If we win, there will be some liquid to celebrate, but definitely not salty sea water. It’ll be indoors.