Bohemians achieved an unbelievable feat - they won the inaugural indoor football tournament in Prague, called the Weekend of Champions! At the end of two days of competition against formidable opponents, they were given a championship cup to the cheers of their fans and fans of other teams as well. Bookmaker Fortuna that sponsored this tournament posted odds for each participating team to win the tournament. Bohemians, being the lonely second division team in the company of champions or former champions, were given 12:1 odds. Sparta was a favourite with 4.5:1 odds, followed by Slavia at 6:1, Debrecen 7:1, etc. Who would have thought…?
The draw put Bohemka in the Group A together with the Hungarian champion Debrecen, Czech champion Liberec and currently the second team in the Czech first division, Slavia Praha. However, Bohemka had a few advantages over other teams:
Advantage No.1 - no other team had so many fans that would cheer so loud and wildly during the tournament as Bohemka, even when Bohemka fell behind. They never gave up and neither did the players. Organizers of the tournament were so impressed with Bohemka fans that they spontaneously declared fans of Bohemians the best fans of the tournament.
Advantage No.2 - mascot the Kangaroo. While the Kangaroo is restricted in his movements by official rules during league matches, the tournament organizers allowed the Kangaroo to roam freely, to co-ordinate fans cheering and entertain all spectators with his usual crazy antics. Players of Bohemians consider the Kangaroo a good luck charm, they swear by him.
Advantage No.3 - a newspaper article. The Czech daily Sport published prior to the tournament start an article written by one Horst Strnad. Mr.Strnad in his article took organizers of the tournament to the task for inviting Bohemians, calling them “not even an average football team”. That really ticked off Bohemians players and they promised to prove this hack wrong. And prove they did!
Advantage No.4 - monetary reward. The winner of the tournament was also given 300,000 Czech crowns. That may be peanuts to some teams; it is nothing to sneeze at to the players of Bohemians.
Advantage No.5 - they had nothing to lose. Written off prior to the tournament by so called experts only made them work harder. There is a lesson there somewhere.
All games were played on an artificial turf. The smaller field (48 x 24 m) with boards allowed hockey-like actions along the boards. There were only five field players and a goalkeeper allowed per side. All the players could be substituted at any time. The game was played for 2 x 15 minutes.
Bonemians entered the tournament in a game against Debrecen. Although Bohemka fell behind, players cheered on by their fans fought on to save a tie.
VSC Debrecín - Bohemians 1905 1:1 (1:0)
Goals: 8. Sándor - 17. Kotyza
Immediately after this game, Bohemka played the Czech champion from Liberec. The game was full of dramatic moments as the final score indicates.
Slovan Liberec - Bohemians 1905 5:5 (2:3)
Goals: 8. Hamouz, 10. Liška, 24. Frejlach, 28. Holenda, 30. Hamouz - 4. Marek, 10. own Dohnálek, 14. Matúš, 23. Bálek, 29. Kulvajt
The third and decisive game of Group A was played against one of the favourites - Slavia Praha. Bohemians played very well, not allowing Slavia too many scoring chances.
Bohemians 1905 - Slavia Praha 4:2 (3:1)
Goals: 10. and 14. Adam, 12. Kocourek, 30. Matúš - 11. L. Jarolím, 16. Latka
This victory propelled Bohemians to the top of Group A, thus qualifying for a semi-final game. Liberec placed second in Group A, while Slavia had to swallow a bitter pill, finishing in the last place.
The semi-final game matched Bohemians with the second team from Group B, Mladá Boleslav. This was supposed to be an exciting game, following the trashing of Sparta Praha from Mladá Boleslav in the Group B game (2:7). However, the game was not even close. Bohemka started the game on fire and never looked back. The final result reflects what was going on on the field.
Bohemians 1905 - Mladá Boleslav 8:2 (4:1)
Goals: 10. a 18. Dian, 15. a 19. Slezák, 4. P. Hašek, 5. Pávek, 26. Bálek, 30. Kotyza - 7. Kulič, 25. Abraham.
Bohemians reached the finals where they would meet the Slovak champion Ružomberok that managed to beat Liberec in the other semi-final game 3:2.
The game did not start well for Bohemians, falling behind 2:0 in the early going. With the determination of an underdog, they evened the score by halftime. Ružomberok went ahead on a goal from a quick counter-attack. Bohemka put Ružomberok under pressure, even the goalie Sňozík fired a few dangerous shots, but to no avail. However, as Yogi Berra would say, it’s not over until it’s over. Škoda tapped home a tying goal in the last minute of the game after a nice set-up by Bohemians. But the best was yet to come. A few seconds later, Adam passed the ball to himself utilizing boards and fired a hard shot that won the game for Bohemians.
Bohemians 1905 - Ružomberok 4:3 (2:2)
Goals: 13. Kocourek, 15. Slezák, 30. Škoda, 30. Adam - 2. Majný, 12. Kucka, 22. Jurč
Although this was just a tournament that was supposed to make the conditioning for the upcoming season more enjoyable, it was more than that for Bohemians. Our players realized that they don’t have to take second seat to anyone. Also, since the tournament was telecast not only in the Czech Republic, but also in Europe and Asia, it provided football fans in those regions with a glimpse of the small football team that survived its clinical death and is now well and alive and kicking again.
If you have watched the games on TV or over the Internet, please share your impressions with us. Drop us your comments at: Beer_is_what_I_like@hotmail.com
