Trpišovský: Ballkani is very strong in combination, Sor and Ševčík will not play yet

On Thursday, Slavia will play the second match of the group stage of the European Conference League, welcoming Ballkani from Kosovo at home. What did their coach Jindřich Trpišovský say before the match?

Thursday’s game will be a bit of a David vs. Goliath match. While Slavia has made a big name for itself in Europe over the last five years, beating Leicester for example, Ballkani has only qualified for the group for the first time this year.

Nevertheless, both teams will go into the match with the same points. Slavia pushed and outplayed Turkish Sivasspor, but only drew 1-1, the same result was the result of Balkani’s match with Cluj.

“Ballkani is a team that has no name, but the performance is higher than one would expect. They have a coach who had great success in Albania, he has transferred it to this team. Their basic characteristic is that they are terribly strong in combination, they play everything, the goalkeeper plays very well with his feet, both trackers too.

Thewhole team is very football-like, they have great ball control, they enjoy it, in some ways they remind me of futsal players,” Trpišovský told the club’s website.

After losing two points in Sivas, the Slavs were hit by an avalanche of criticism. The Turkish Cup winner has been struggling in the league, yet the Susians could not break them down, despite a lot of pressure at the end. Not even a penalty in stoppage time helped.

Still, Slavia cannot go to Ballkani with the strongest line-up, as they play Viktoria Plzen on Sunday, probably the showpiece of the autumn. Both teams have the same number of points, but the Westerners have played one less round.

“For us, Ballkani is the first highlight now. And the reason is that we need to make it three points on Thursday, we only have a point from the first game and this is the first home game. That’s been the key for us to progress in previous years, we’ve always got the first home game right. In the group stage it was the cornerstone for us, we need to win,” continued the Red and Whites coach.

Not only did Slavia’s squad leave two points in Sivas, but they also fell ill. The players are battling fevers and the coaching staff will have only 15 players available for the field on Thursday, if we don’t take the juniors into account.

Team captain Tomas Holes will not be available, but neither will Petr Shevcik or Yira Sor. Only two stoppers, Taras Kacharaba and Aiham Ousou, who gave reliable performances last year in Europe, remain healthy.

“Petr won’t play against Ballkani, we’ll see how it looks with him on Sunday. He is recovering from a cold, he is out of the team and not training. Yira had a 100% load on Tuesday, he did sprints, he was on expanders with the fitness coaches. If he makes it through them, he will join the team. On Thursday he will not be for sure, on Sunday we will see if there is zero risk, he will join the team, Trpišovský added.

Source:: SK Slavia Praha