We are starting on Saturday already… On Thursday, players were electing the captain and posing for joint photo. Csaba Horváth is the “new and old” captain, Lubor Knapp and Csaba Szórád will be his assistants.
The captain elections took place in coach’s office at 9.15 am. Players were voting for the candidates for the captain. Many coaches are assigning captains themselves. Ivan Galád prefers democratic methods in this regard. “Selection of a captain is exclusively up to the players”, stated the coach shortly after the result was presented. Csaba Horváth became a clear winner. “There are some new players in the team. I was curious about the result. I was 25 when I was elected last year. I feel much more experienced as a leader today. I also feel more self-confident in this role,” the captain described his feelings inside.
Lubor Knapp was second in the elections. “I confess I am pleasantly surprised by the number of votes. I am trying to be active in contact with my teammates both on the pitch and in the cabin. Perhaps this is the reason why some boys threw my name into the ballot,” explains the fosterling of Ostrava football his position of a “vice-captain”. Csaba Szórád got the third highest number of ballots. “The chosen players are authorities in the cabin. They are supposed to be team leaders on the pitch as well as outside of it,“ commented the results of the elections Ivan Galád.
The first phase of the training was for the players with fewer appearances in the prep games. They played a model game against the U18 team. The team led by assistant coaches Ivan Vrabec and Roman Hodál consisted of Olej, Marušinec, Šimlaštík, and the foreign players. The community of foreigners has been complemented by the Brazilians Carlos Medeira and Leandro Saldanha. The regular training for the players preparing for Saturday’s league game against Ružomberok followed afterwards.
The intensive raining that started at the end of the training caused slight complications for the planned team photographing. Finally the clouds disappeared and the picture could be taken.
The busiest players during the whole day were the home-comers from the Netherlands Csaba Horváth and Miloš Volešák. While a potential transfer of Horváth is an open issue, Miloš Volešák will spend the upcoming period in Trenčín.