NCTJ sports journalism diploma student Mark Smith reviewed Viktoria Plzen successful season.

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NCTJ Sports journalism diploma course article by Mark Smith
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The western bohemian city of Plzen is well known for its world famous Pilsner-Urquell lager,
but now the people of Plzen have a football team to be proud of. Viktoria Plzen clinched their
first ever league title this season, a fitting way to celebrate their centenary year. Most clubs
would revamp the club badge, or sell commemorative mugs and stationery to celebrate their
100th year as a football club. Not Viktoria Plzen, they gave their fans their first ever league
title. It’s a meteoric rise from last season’s 5th place to champions of the Czech Republic in
the space of 12 months, even the staunchest Plzen fan most have been shocked at this
season’s title success.
Viktoria Plzen boss Pavel Vrba has put together a team of experienced players and instilled a
wonderful attacking mentality, he likes his side to play a 4-2-3-1 system with an emphasis on
speed and technical ability. Fans of the Slovakian team MSK Zillina will have fond memories
of Pavel Vrba, as he won the Slovakian Super Liga with MSK Zillina in similar fashion in
2006/07.
Fresh from their Czech Cup success the previous year, Plzen started the first half of the
season in record-breaking form. Despite dropping points in the first game of the season,
drawing with Sigma Olomouc, they then went on an astonishing 11 game winning streak –
beating defending champions Sparta Prague 1-0 in the process.
As the winter break approached, Viktoria Plzen had amassed a record point’s haul of 40 from
a possible 45. Fans and pundits were beginning to run out of superlatives to lavish on Plzen
as they held a nine point lead over Sparta Prague. It wasn’t just the results which stood out -
it was the quick, incisive attacking football which made people sit up and take notice.
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Plzen boss Pavel Vrba quickly identified that building a team around the play making skills of
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the 36 year-old Pavel Horvath was the cleland@ctjt.biz Horvath’s intelligent build up play
route to success.
and deadly free kicks have been pivotal this season for Plzen, but it feels somewhat
disrespectful to single out one player for Plzen’s success. Whilst title rivals Sparta Prague
relied heavily on the goals from Bony Wilifred and Leonard Kewuke and Jablonec owed much
to the league’s top scorer David Lafata. But for Plzen, the collective reigned supreme as
Daniel Kolar was the top scorer for Plzen, accounting for just 13 of the 70 goals scored by
Plzen in the league, a statistic which tells its own story.
The 36 year-old Plzen captain Pavel Horvath is well travelled to say the least, he has had
stints in Portugal, Germany and Japan but after he was deemed surplus to requirements at
Sparta Prague in 2008 he joined Viktoria Plzen. So this season’s title success over defending
champions Sparta was particularly sweet for Horvath, who was very emotional after the
game with Banik Ostrava (which sealed the title), Horvath stated it was “his greatest
achievement in football”.
When the party is over in Plzen and the dust settles on what has been an unbelievable
season, Vrba and his team can look forward to a European campaign, starting with the
second qualifying round for next season’s UEFA Champions League.
Plzen will be looking to go one step further than rivals Sparta Prague did last year, as the
Czech side failed to overcome Slovakian neighbours MSK Zilina in the final play-off for the
lucrative group stages.
NCTJ Sports journalism diploma course article by Mark Smith
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The whole of Plzen will be hoping that the draw gods are smiling down on them as they look
to plot their way through the qualifying rounds. Teams like Benfica, Rangers, Twente and
Dynamo Kiev are lurking and that’s before they can even dream of making the final play-off
round.
Given the standard of football in the Czech Republic, and the relative strength of the national
league it will be a massive task for Plzen, it looks more probable they will face a European
adventure in UEFA’s not so glamorous competition, the UEFA Europa League.
It’s difficult to imagine how Vrba finds more improvement out of this experienced side, the
average age of his starting XI is around 29 years old and the pressure of retaining their
league title will also be a difficult challenge for Plzen. But one thing is for certain, if Viktoria
Plzen wants to make it to the promised land of the Champions League group stages, then
Pavel Vrba will have to pull another rabbit out of the hat.
NCTJ Sports journalism diploma course article by Mark Smith
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