Sep 27, 2022 |
News
The category of students up to 14 years old has completed a strenuous program. During the second week of September, the young Spartans were part of an international tournament in Ravenna, Italy, where they did not do badly at all. From the basic group, they managed to advance from first place and even without conceding a goal.
"The Italian teams played a similar style of football based on block play, from which the intention was to launch quick counter-attacks. Unlike the Slovak teams, they were certainly more tactically prepared, equipped with strength and speed, but the beauty of the game could seem to be lacking," coach Dávid Miškovič initially compared the matches with the league. After a long journey, the boys regenerated, enjoyed a bit of the sea, and then 5 matches of 40 minutes each awaited them. "We didn't concede any goals, we dominated the game in every match and I dare say that we played eye-pleasing combination football, which must have been liked and the parents and the whole team enjoyed the tournament."
FCST – Soccer Trani 0:0
FCST – Donatello Calcio 3:0 (Kostoláni, vlastný, Fojta)
FCST – Montemorcino Calcio 6:0 (2x Marčiš, 2x Hečko, Pospíšil, Mišo)
FCST – Salernitana 1919 1:0 (Bohunický)
FCST – Catanzaro Lido 2004 6:0 (2x Fraňo, Ušák, Pospíšil, Ševčík, Mišo)
Zostava FCST U14: Pavelka, Slimák – Bartaloš, Mišo, Slovák, Ušák, Bohunický, Feher, Bartovič, Fraňo, Studený, Zemko, Augustín, Magdolen, Pospíšil, Kostoláni, Ševčík, Fojta, Furek, Hečko, Marčiš
After a fantastic performance in the regular season, where they defeated, for example, first-league Salernitana, they were awaited by another challenging opponent with a more prominent name. Unfortunately, the first and only conceded goal for the entire tournament meant the end for our players. "After progressing to the elimination phase from first place, Sampdoria was waiting for us. At the beginning of the match, the opponent hit an uncatchable volley, and then came the negative stain of the entire tournament. By the end of the match, the Italians made 7 substitutions, received treatment 5 times, simulated, unnecessarily kicked the balls and fouled our players. In these moments, our psyche also left a little and we did not manage to break the match, despite the fact that, with the exception of the goal, we did not let the opponent into our half." the coach described the unfortunate match with Sampdoria.
FCST – U.C. Sampdoria 0:1
Despite the elimination, there is satisfaction with the participation in the tournament. The players gained new experience, tested their strength against foreign opponents and strengthened the team even more. "In addition to excellent confrontations with Italian teams, we got to know the players even more from a human side, new reinforcements were integrated into the team, parents strengthened friendships and we spent more days together as a team."
The excellent results were understandably preceded by the excellent performances of the entire team. That is also why Dávid Mišković did not spare his praise. "The players often performed and committed beyond their limits, they fought for every millimeter of the pitch. Only one conceded goal is a great calling card of the goalkeepers, but also of the defense led by captain Bohunicky. Kostolan and Zemko worked as a wall in front of the central defenders, who constantly supported offensive players from their positions and were typical box-to-box players. The offensive was excellently supported by the Slovak with lunges from the right defense. The most dangerous players in front of the opponent's goal were Ševčík and Furek, who had a great tournament, sometimes they just needed more luck and balance in the end. The rest of the team complemented the aforementioned players with excellent performances and together we created a great team that, if not for an unfortunate moment in the elimination phase, would have made it far." One of the biggest motivations for the players was the presence of scouts from Juventus or other teams.
The guys had a really busy schedule during the tournament. They were accommodated roughly 20 minutes from the pitches, so they lost a lot of time due to moving to the matches and back to eating. In the morning, they completed the warm-up, then the matches. In the evening, a short personal break followed, followed by a tactical meeting for the next day and a party. On the one hand, our football players were grieving, on the other hand, they were looking forward to a change in their diet, which mostly consisted of pasta with tomato puree. "Only on the last night did they get pesto, with the exception of the lactose-free ones, who had to wait for it to be brought to them and the guys had a good laugh that it was tomato paste again," the coach joked about the tournament food.
After returning from Italy, the 14 faced a difficult match with Dunajská Streda, which they managed and won 5:3. „In the second half, we had to make several substitutions, as some were dragging their feet after the tournament. finished the coach's assessment of the 4th round match. The next match for the under-14 category was eleven days away, but the selected players also completed the U14 Regional Tournament in NTC Poprad between September 17 and 21. Hečko, Bohunický, Ševčík, Slimák, Zemko, Furek and Fojta represented the club by name. The last-named also made a breakthrough in terms of scoring, when he provided the West Slovak regional team with a point in the match against the Central Slovaks. However, that was the only point that ZsFZ gained during the tournament. Zemko and Furek were injured during the clash and therefore missed the last league match at Prievidza, where the Spartans managed to win 3:1.
