From Wednesday, 30th April until Saturday, 2nd May 2014 training camp for wider Czech national minifootball team in Český Dub (district Liberec) took place. Head coach Radek Pokorný and newly appointed assistant coach Stanislav Bejda had a total of 22 players that were nominated during the spring part of season by heads of their regional associations.
On the start of Wednesday’s practice were ready four goalkeepers and eighteen players in the field. Some faces were familiar for the coaches, but most of the team squad consisted of newcomers. The team leadership wanted to give a chance to show their skills to everyone who wants to fight for the national jersey. Here is the final list of players for training camp in Český Dub.
Goalkeepers: Marek Trávníček (Blansko), Ondřej Fišer (Milovice), Petr Víšek (Praha), Václav Večeřa (Brno)
Defenders: Adam Grmela (Brno), Sergej Vlačiha and Petr Janda (Milovice), Jan Vrátil (Most), Jan Petržílka (Praha)
Midfielders: Karel Kristen (Praha), Milan Karásek (Milovice), Pavel Kryl and Jakub Krejčí (Olomouc), Marek Brinzík (Ostrava)
Forwards: Matěj Novotný (Milovice), Radim Hlavsa (Ostrava), Jan Koudelka (Blansko), Daniel Kavka (Jihlava), Jiří Punčochář (Olomouc), Milan Němeček, Milan Klimeš and Tomáš Prokeš (all from Brno)
Team squad’s were very varied and the coaches task was to get the team together and try the players qualities on different positions. They had to play three friendly matches – Thursday’s double-match with the selection of Prague Hanspaulka League and Friday’s friendly match against the Representation of Milovice. On Thursday, the squad was split into two halves (red and blue) and played against two teams from Prague minifootball association, which compiled and invited the general manager of Czech minifootball representation Luděk Zelenka. A chemistry of Prague selections finally succeeded. Although red national team played with Prague selection close game, it finally ended 3:2 for Prague.The Blue team wasn´t already so successful and lost 7:2. For Friday´s match it was necessary to make some changes and especially motivate the national team to play better against Milovice. And they finally succeeded, when beating their opponent 3:1. Two goals were scored by Tomáš Prokeš, one added by Pavel Kryl.
Training camp in Český Dub has ended positively and players were leaving for home smiling. They spoke very positive about well prepared area, fine kitchen, a perfect opportunity for regeneration, professionally led training sessions, but especially they appreciated the chance to compare their skills with other players from the Czech Republic. The National team leadership hopes that it was a valuable experience for them and that at least some of them will meet again at other events of the national team. The next one is in Zelencup in June, where the national team can measure it‘s strength against teams from Poland and Slovakia, in August there is a friendly match in Italy and in September has representation in plan to play a mini tournament in Terezín with participation of team Germany, Austria and Israel. So national team coaches still have plenty of opportunities to choose really the best that domestic minifootball offers.