"If someone does not have quality, we will have to say goodbye to them"

Yesterday's match of the 2nd round of the Slovnaft Cup was a holiday in Boleráz. The defender of the trophy visited the village, whose football club Slavoj plays in the 4th league, and attracted more than a thousand visitors. It should have been a mandatory drive for the Spartans, but trouble was born on the field, which finally reached the penalty shootout. The local football players gave an excellent performance, the opponent with a famous name was the motivation that they turned into a soulful performance. They upgraded it even more when they even took the lead after Planet's goal. Several players finished the match in convulsions and despite the fact that they failed in the penalty shootout, they left the cup with their heads held high. They can remember the match for a long time.

On the contrary, the feelings of those advancing were embarrassed. Progressing on penalties meant avoiding an unpleasant football embarrassment at the last moment.

"The match was very demanding and we saw that the guys from Boleráz gave it everything and went like in the final of the Champions League. It was difficult for us, we went into full defense, but fortunately we advanced, although only after penalties. We believed until the very end that we would score one more goal. There were a lot of centers, unfortunately, we didn't manage to finish them in the penalty area." said Marek Ujlaky after the match, who played the entire match with the captain's armband.

Martin Vantruba, who was without the ball for most of the match and before the match, did not imagine that he would eventually have to face a penalty shootout. "I had the minimum of that work, but they still managed to score. It was a little frustrating, but I was keeping my fingers crossed for the guys to pull through. We finally succeeded and we decided on penalties. There were no penalty statistics on the players and that made it all the more difficult. I bet on my intuition, and although I didn't catch one, but two attempts failed and luckily we won."

Michal Gašparík rested several players from the starting line-up in the cup match. After the meeting, he was disappointed and angry at the same time. "I took the risk of changing the entire eleven, but when, if not now, should I give a chance to those guys who play less and you play with the fourth division Boleráz? I was disappointed by the performance of some players, that's why I replaced five players. I again took the risk that if someone were to get hurt, we have no one to put there."

The cup match held up a mirror to the individual performances of some players who did not take the chance to convince the coach of their abilities and contribution to the team. What can this mean? "First of all, I won't do it again, giving so many players a chance. The players don't care who they play with, they play for their position in the team and they could have improved it with today's match as well. If someone does not have that quality, then we will have to say goodbye to him. Maybe some people's eyes will be opened. When we played Europe, I could see that some were disappointed and maybe even puffed up that I didn't rotate the lineup as much as I could, but I know why I did it and it was confirmed today."

Let's believe that such a slap came in handy and the Spartans can repair their reputation already on Saturday, when they play in the league on the ground of the newcomer from Skalice.