Martin Pospisil for “Wprost”: The Czechs don’t know what to expect from the Poles. This match will be decisive

Karol Osinski, “Wprost”: At the beginning of March 2023, you signed a contract with Sigma Olomouc. In a recent match against Mladá Boleslav, you made a good goal pass. How do you feel after returning home?

Martin Pospisil: I will not hide that I feel great. After returning, I started in the first two matches and we won both in front of our fans. For me, this was the beginning of a dream. That’s how I imagined it.

I am at home, my family, and I have started a new life, because what we have been missing for the last ten years has suddenly appeared. We have time to meet everyone, spend more time with friends and family. Everything seems to be simpler, but professionally, football is still the most important thing, and I feel great on the field, as if I started playing football again. I needed these changes and a new impulse. I am very happy, especially since we are playing well and scoring points when I return.

At Sigma, you took your first steps in professional football. Later, he represented the colors of, among others, Viktoria Pilzno or FK Jablonec. What changes have occurred in the club during the years of your absence?

I was surprised that there weren’t many changes. I met many people with whom I worked many years ago. Conditions for training have definitely improved, the rest is just as good. I was gone for ten years, and when I returned, it seemed to me that I had been absent for a whole week. I didn’t experience much. There are the same people who are responsible for preparing the field for meetings, cleaners and people in charge of the stadium. Of course, the coaching staff has changed, but, for example, now my coach is Vaclav Yilek, with whom I worked in the youth team. The same can be said for a lot of the guys I’ve played with or against on the same team. From the first day I felt at home.

Although you have spent and continue to spend most of your career in the Czech Republic, you have spent the last six years at Jagiellonia Białystok. Can you tell which league, Polish or Czech, represents a higher level of play?

Both leagues are specific. I remember a few big names that didn’t fit in Poland and the Czech Republic. For me, a level jump when I moved from the Czech to the Polish league…

Ekstraklasa is more aggressive than ours. In the Czech Republic, you can see that a lot of attention is paid to tactics, but it’s hard for me to judge which of these leagues is better. However, in the Czech Republic we have Viktoria Pilsen, Sparta and Slavia Praha, who regularly participate in European competitions. I think that this is not enough in Poland, although, of course, Lech Poznań has gone far in the European Conference League, but something like this is needed every year. This is the difference.

197 matches, 11 goals, 11 goals and 21 assists - this is how your adventure with Jagiellonia Bialystok ended. Do you think he could have achieved more, is this a satisfactory result?

I am very happy, because I think that few foreigners could achieve such a result, but I did. I think that’s why I’m appreciated in Poland and the Czech Republic. Six years in the same club as a foreigner, just in Jagiellonia is a certain historical result.

I will not hide the fact that after leaving I felt really great respect. I have received thousands of messages of thanks and congratulations with best wishes. I am very happy about this and at the same time I have the right to consider that I left a very good impression.

During your stay in Bialystok you were guided by six trainers. Can you name which of the coaches you have worked with the best and from whom you have learned the most?

Yes, here I will point out the coach Ireneus Mamrot. Under his wing, I have made the most progress, and if I had to choose one of them, it would definitely be him. We also played the best football with him and achieved the best results. Previously, the guys showed themselves well under the leadership of Michal Probezh, but at that time I was not yet in Jagiellonia. Ireneush Mamrot taught me a lot.

Before moving to Jagiellonia, you represented your country three times. The last match in which you played for the national team was against Poland, which lost to the Czech Republic 1: 3. What do you remember about that meeting?

To be honest, I don’t remember exactly, although it was my last match for the national team. Of course, the atmosphere at the stadium in Wroclaw was excellent. The stadium was full and I was very pleasantly surprised. I don’t remember what happened in the match, so I can’t judge it.

Less than eight years have passed since that match, and the Czech national team at that time was led by Pavel Vrba, Karel Jarolim and Jaroslav Silhavi, who is the coach to this day. Which of them, in your opinion, made the greatest contribution to the game of the Czech national team?

Coach Pavel Vrba is doing well, but the current coach is also doing well. During Euro 2020 he achieved a very good result and I had the opportunity to work with him for three years and I know him very well. I think that at the moment he is the ideal coach for the Czech national team, and the team with him can achieve really good results. The match against Poland will be decisive because I believe that the Poles and the Czechs will fight for the victory in this group.

However, it is worth noting that the Czech Republic failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, although, as you mentioned, they reached the quarter-finals at the last Euro. Looking at the current squad of the Czech national team, which includes many young players, do you think they will be able to determine the strength of the national team for the coming years?

Many of our players are newbies. Patrick Schick is a Czech, something like Robert Lewandowski from Poland, and unfortunately he is injured so he will be greatly missed in this match.

But we have a lot of talented guys. It’s hard to judge something yet, because now they can look good, and in two years all Czechs will be proud of them, including me, but it happens differently. The roster included many players from the Czech league. I think Silhava’s coach is watching her closely. More than half of the team comes from domestic competitions, many players even from the same clubs, so I think the coach pays attention to the fact that they are very matched and understand each other. He wants to take advantage of this.

Do you think that this team is capable of beating the current Polish national team?

Yes, because I believe that this coincidence is not one of those that have proportions, for example, 80-20 percent. chance for either side. There is no favorite here, I estimate the chances at 50-50 percent. If I had to bet, I think it would be a draw, but not many goals. Even one goal can decide the outcome.

One of your teammates, 23-year-old Mojmir Chytil, has been called up for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against Poland and Moldova, who has scored three goals in two caps so far. This season Sigma Olomouc is also going great and is one of your pillars. Do you see him as the dark horse of the team and someone who can grow up to be the leader of the Czech national team?

No, I wouldn’t say that. He is a talented boy, but I don’t think he is a player who could be one of the stars of the national team. He had a great start when he scored a hat-trick, but we need to see against which team (5-0 against the Faroe Islands). Statistically he looks good and is definitely one of the best young strikers in the Czech Republic, but I think he still needs time to show what he can do. He had a good season, but he needs to keep working to make it the same in the next seasons. If he shows something like that in a few years, we will talk about whether he is the first or second striker for the team.

How do you see your opponent from the point of view of a fan of the Czech national team? The Polish national team was led by the most successful coach in the history of Polish football, Fernando Santos. Does this fact inspire respect among Czech football fans and players?

I wouldn’t say it’s respectable, but it’s talked about a lot. This is a big name, everyone knows him and knows who he is talking about.

It’s more of a conversation about not knowing what to expect from you. Previously, under the coach Czeslaw Mikhnevich, it was the same, because the Poles played defensively. Everyone knew how they would play, but now no one knows what to expect. However, the opposite is also the case, because this is the first match for the Poles, led by Fernando Santos, and fans from Poland are wondering what he will come up with for this meeting. The same conversations in the Czech Republic. It is very difficult for us to read the white-red team. I think if we are talking about respect, then respect is felt here.

The Polish team will come to Prague slightly weakened. Do you expect surprises in the Czech national team?

I do not expect the rotation of the coach Silavi, because it is embedded in him that he likes to bet on proven players, i.e. on those who used to play good matches under his wing. He makes a maximum of one or two substitutions, but I would not expect a big surprise.

I’m also wondering how much people talk about Robert Lewandowski in the Czech Republic? So far, he has played four matches against your national team, of which he lost three times and won once, while not scoring a single goal. Today he is not in the best shape either.

He talks about it with the class. People look not at what form he is in, but at what kind of player he is. Everyone knows he is a world class footballer and everyone in the Czech Republic knows what Robert Lewandowski means to Poland. He may not be in shape, but he will come to Prague and be able to score two goals. And the players, and fans, and journalists treat him with great respect.

And what about Piotr Zelinsky, who reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League and is Napoli’s mainstay this season?

No, mostly about Robert Lewandowski.

In conclusion, if Martin Pospisil had such an opportunity, would he appoint himself to the current squad of the Czech national team?

I would give him a little more time, but I think the next training camp - yes!