World champions from Kiev will face each other in the battle for the U23 Super League title

The Superfinal couldn’t have a more attractive charge. And this is also true in the U23 Super League, when Brno and Staropramen Prague face each other in Boskovice on 25 June.

On both sides will be participants of last year’s Under-23 World Championship. The current Brno captain Tomáš Zeman, as well as his Prague counterpart Tomáš Jelínek and Jindřich Novotný or goalkeeper Lukáš Vít brought silver from Kiev, Ukraine.

“I’m really looking forward to the Superfinal. We met at the championship, this time Mara (captain of last year’s world vice-champions and Staropramen Praha Tomáš Mařík – editor’s note) will not play against us. We have already beaten Prague once in the semifinals of the Superleague. Before this Superfinal we will prepare ourselves again so that it will be the same as last year with Příbramí,” smiled Zeman, the Brno quarterback.

A year ago the Brno team won the semi-final against Staropramen 2:1. They won their first ever title in the U23 Superliga after a 7:1 win against Příbramí. The bronze went to Staropramen Praha, who beat Olomouc 3:1.

This time Brno is facing the Prague team. “It’s definitely a very attractive and interesting match for everyone, only because there will be no semi-final, but the final is being played. It will be one game, so preparation and concentration will be very important. I dare say we have the toughest opponent we can have at the moment. I believe in an even game,” said Novotný, the Prague forward.

Both teams went through to the Superfinals as winners of the qualifiers, which were held in two rounds this time, in the autumn and spring, always in Pribram and Brno. Staropramen Praha had already won the October tournament, but before the rematches they were only ahead of Příbram by a score.

“We went there with the idea that we would advance and we would not take anything else. We held on to the fact that we had everything in our own hands. We told ourselves that we had to get through the first game against Most. We didn’t know what kind of line-up they were coming with, they had tremendous quality for the first time. In the end, we made it and went to the Prague rival. We wanted to win the derby on principle and we managed the game beautifully. Theimportant thing was that we didn’t score,” Novotný rejoiced.

Staropramen defeated Prague’s Koráb 4:0 after winning 8:2 against Most. The highlight of the western part of the qualification came in the last match against Partyzan Příbram. The autumn match ended amicably 1:1, this time the Prague team won 2:1 and took the first place in the final table, three points ahead of Příbram.

“It was clear that we had to manage the last match, even though we joked with Vencou Socher (Staropramen Prague’s men’s coach – ed.) who would be satisfied with a draw. We went into the match with the goal to win, we managed to enter it successfully thanks to a 2:0 lead. Then we knew that we could do it and we played the match as a team until the end, ” said Novotný, who opened the scoring in the sixth minute.

The world under-23 vice-champion pulled the Prague team properly. Together with Vojtech Ptáček from Pribram and Daniil Dolechek from Most, he became the top scorer of the qualification with seven goals.

“In the first tournament Jelen was missing as a leading type. I dare to say that now there were even three of us, we were joined by Daniel Zížala, who also plays for Staropramen. Somehow it was spread out, it wasn’t about one player. We had more leaders that the guys could lean on, Jelda played defense, I played offense. It’s better to play when you have your guys together and set up properly. Theteam is pulled by more personalities that can be relied on, there is quality there,” Novotný noted (he scored a total of 16 goals and assisted 3 times for the first team and U23 Staropramen Praha this season – editor’s note)

Due to the age restriction, Zeman remained in the Brno team as the only vice-champion of the U23 World Championship. David Záleský, Michal Tofl and Dominik Moučka can only play for the first team. However, several current players of the U23 team were also part of last year’s Super League title.

“Eda Jakubčík, Tomáš Mosler, Tomáš Šperka and Tarik Lukšija come to mind. Záles or Toflík left, but the team hasn’t changed that much. We have new guys, but we still want to defend the title,” said Zeman, who put on the captain’s armband.

“I’ve always been a leader type and I’m glad for the captain’s armband. I think it will help me to be even more enthusiastic about the game and to encourage the boys to defend the gold,” smiled the Brno defender.

Brno sailed through the Eastern Qualification quite sovereignly, beating both of their biggest rivals comfortably in the spring part:: Jihlava 4::0 and Olomouc Mighty Ducks even 10::0. In the table they have an eight-point lead over the Mighty Ducks and an admirable score of 35::1. The only goal was scored in a 2:1 win over Jihlava in the autumn.

“We have eight games and eight wins. I want to praise the boys for how responsibly they approached it. We had training sessions before both qualifiers and they went great. We played our own game and we have to thank the coach (Zdeněk Táborský – ed.) for the way he built and put the team together. We have to defend the title, it will be harder. Theresponsibility has fallen on me and I want to succeed,” Zeman said.

Author: Jaroslav Kára