Czechoslovakia the Cup

It could be argued that the Czechoslovak Cup was not exactly representative competition: very often the leading clubs did not reach the final. From aside, it looked like neglect – the strongest perhaps were not entirely interested; not paying enough attention. It was the format: first separate tournaments for the Czech and the Slovak cups were played and the winners of them competed for the Czechoslovak Cup. This made, depending on the year, uneven tournaments: the Czech one was usually more fierce, because old rivalries and wounded pride helped knocking out favourites. In Slovakia all depended on current form – usually, currently strong team quite easily eliminated small teams. It was not easy to see that, though… Slovan, having hard time for years, was still strong in Slovakian predicament. With bit of luck and ambition, they won the Slovak Cup. Among the Czech, a weaker team like Slavia was still able to fight against stronger opposition and if unable to go far, at least was able indirectly to help somebody else. Bohemians was having a good spell at the moment, but one has to consider some lucky draws as well. Anyhow, Bohemians won the Czech Cup for a second consecutive year. Slovan vs Bohemians. Considering how the season went, it looked like Bohemians was obvious favourite. But… the final ended scoreless, moving to penalty shoot-out. And Slovan won 4-2.

Once again emptyhanded… losing two finals in a row seemingly confirmed pessimistic opinions: Bohemians was not really strong, their squad was not up to a real challenge. Second best was their maximum. Results supported this view, although it was not condemning one: Bohemians were traditionally small club, so it was great that they were coming that far – it was heroic enough.

Slovan won their 5th Cup – their first after 1974. From outside point of view, it looked like they were coming back. Familiar name, one of the best known Czechoslovakian clubs, getting one more trophy. But reality was different… before the season Slovan was analyzed entirely in terms of crisis: it looked like they had no direction and crisis was very deep. It was observed that after 1978 50 players were dismissed for various reasons – a full list reveals utter inability and confusion: the veterans of the old great team either retired or were permitted to play in the West, but nobody came after them. Younger players were quickly dismissed for lack of real talent – 5 goalkeepers, for example. It was terrible picture – three veterans still remained (Masny, Svehlik, and Keketi) and nobody even remotely close to their class around. The veterans were aiming at either retirement or a foreign contract, so what really mattered was at least one younger leading player – and there was nobody. Of course, winning the Cup was great – even fantastic – but it was not a revival. It was one accidental push, driven by pride on one hand and by some good luck, on the other hand. If the opponent was not relatively limited, Slovan would not be able with this team to keep scoreless final. Penalty shoot-out is always a gamble, so Slovan was tremendously lucky to win. But they did win and the cup was theirs – nothing else mattered! For the moment.