According to Antoš, last year’s selection under the leadership of the current coach of the senior national team, Radim Rulík, performed better. Even so, the juniors brought bronze, and for the third time in a row they advanced to the top four teams in the world. “And above all, the ending was truly miraculous. He will be etched in the memory of the fans. Advertisement for hockey,” Antoš reminded of the turnaround in the match for bronze, where the Czech team was already losing to Finland 2:5. In the end, however, he celebrated an 8:5 victory, when he scored four goals in less than a minute at the end of the match.
According to Antoš, the success at the last two world championships does not lie in the fact that the Czechs have a stronger generation of players. “I attribute it to the fact that more work is being done with the composition of the team. I wouldn’t say that we have stronger years, but the coaches pay more attention to the selection of players,” says the former professional hockey player, who was personally present at the World Cup as an expert for Czech Television.
The editor of Sportu.cz, Jan Škvor, recalled that it was Rulík who set the selection of players and the change in playing style last year. Antoš agrees. “Previously, the matches were played more tactically. We are playing hockey now. It’s junior hockey, you have to play up and down, and not wait in the middle,” Antoš compared with the performances of the 20-year-old from earlier times.
The Czech team defeated Canada in the quarter-finals of the tournament and also performed very well in the match against the later world champions from the USA. Although the Czech and European hockey schools are developing, we must not rest on our laurels.
“We are doing something, but in America they are already further away. They engage in more one-on-one combat, bouncing off opponents, and attacking. We are three or four steps behind them. We can play with them, but it’s not like we’re equal,” added Antoš.
Both guests agreed in the studio that the initial defeat against Slovakia (2:6) benefited the Czech team. “We won’t know what the tournament would look like if we beat them. But in the end it worked,” says Škvor. According to Antoš, the Czech team performed more maturely after the loss against Slovakia.
Příklep also discussed Antoš’s unfortunate statement in which he took a dig at the eliminated Slovaks after the quarterfinals. The topic was also the goalkeeper of the national team Michael Hrabal, the upbringing of youth in the Czech environment and the Czech extra league.
Hockey clips, analyses, interesting guests in the Sport.cz studio.
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