He found the bounced ball, cunningly sent it to the post out of reach of the goalkeeper and then celebrated happily in front of a cauldron of angry Budejovice fans. “Easy hit? I don’t think so, the referee messed up a bit,” explained Fila cheerfully. “The goal is a nice bonus to the win, I’ll have more confidence.”
It took a long time before he could sit in front of reporters in the Budejovice arena and tell them about the first league hit of the season. Prolonged injuries slowed him down in the fall and in the winter, and he was getting back into shape through a stop in the third-league B team.
“In total, I was languishing for over three months, and I was still catching up in February and March. I knew I had to endure and remain patient,” explained Fila. “Of course, like everyone else, I wanted to come back as soon as possible and I kept asking myself when that would be. It was an unpleasant phase, but I had to go through it. Anyway, I would he didn’t want to experience that.”
He jumped into the league before the national team break in March and was given a chance in the starting lineup by coach Zdenek Frťala in the very second match. He was rewarded with a goal and for the first time in the season Teplice got to know what it is like to win twice in a row. Although they remain fourteenth, which would mean a playoff after the superstructure, only a worse score separates them from safe positions.
“The recent change of coach helped us. It gave us a kick and now we’ve won twice in a row with zero behinds. We are calmer,” remarked Fila. “The goal will encourage Dan. I am glad that he is back, as well as our other important striker Gning. Thanks to this, we are less readable for opponents and after two victories we can breathe better,” said coach Frťala with satisfaction.
Fila started the season in the Slavist jersey in the second preliminary round of the Conference League in Gibraltar and can end it at the summer EURO twenty-one. The native of Brno is together with Václav Sejek the best scorer of this cycle, but he last played for the Lions last September. The next four Test duels were without him. Will he get a ticket to Georgia? “I’m in contact with coach Suchopárek and I know what I’m up to,” said Fila. “It’s up to me if I play and score goals in Teplice. In any case, the EURO is my goal, I believe in it.”
