It is only in the very east of Slovakia, a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border, that football coach František Straka gets his reputation as an expert in result interventions. He took over Michalovce a month ago and the team, which until then had never won in the league, suddenly collected ten points from four games. “If we save ourselves, I will make a bombastic tartare for the boys,” promises the sixty-five-year-old coach.
Zemplín thus loses only two points to Košice in the group for survival. If he jumps ahead of the rival, he avoids the tie. “When I started, no one gave me any goal. It’s clear to all of us: rescue. Nothing more, nothing less. We’re all working on that,” said the sixty-five-year-old coach in an interview for internet diary SME.sk.
He completed a similar rescue mission last year. At the end of March, he came to Trenčín, which at that time was languishing in the penultimate position. In eight league matches, Straka had a record of four wins, two draws and two defeats and led the team to safety.
Nevertheless, after two months, the club announced that they would not extend their cooperation with him.
“When I came to Trenčín, in some cases I was completely scared, the way the cabin worked. It was chaotic, no one wanted to communicate, no one wanted to work together. And these are the factors why the team is not doing well,” explained the former legendary Sparta defender and Czechoslovak national team.
But within a short time he managed to get the cabin on his side. “When I finished, the guys were very disappointed that I didn’t continue even though we saved ourselves,” he described.
He also set himself the goal of putting the cabin in a pile in Michalovce. And if the road to rescue is really completed, Zemplín footballers will experience Strak’s famous ritual.
“If that happens, there will be tartare. I’ll make them the most bombastic they’ve ever eaten in their life,” laughs Straka.
Last year Trenčín, this year Michalovce. Two spring rescue missions in Slovakia. However, there is one significant difference between them. While it is twelve kilometers from the town on the Váh River to the Czech border, Michalovce is located in the very east of Slovakia, hundreds of kilometers from Straka’s homeland.
“Each city has its own specifics. When I came here, I didn’t understand a word. When people start “hutoring” (speaking in the local dialect), I don’t understand anything. We were riding a bus recently, they asked me something and I didn’t know what it was about is speech. They had to translate it for me,” he adds with a smile.
However, even from a distance, Straka follows football events in the Czech Republic. Both the league competition and changes in the national team, which Ivan Hašek recently took over.
“I hope he doesn’t run away from us, like when he was the president of the football association. He ran away from us then,” Straka digs at his former boss. It was Hašek who ended his cooperation with him just a few days after he became Strahov’s boss at the end of June 2009, and Strak’s balance as a national team coach stopped at number 1 (1:0 with Malta).
Hašek then resigned from his position after two years, i.e. halfway through the mandate. He headed to the United Arab Emirates, causing quite a stir in the Czech Republic.
“In any case, I believe that Ivan will take it into the right hands and the team will be successful at the Euros. Everyone has the ambition to advance from the group as far as possible. Ivan will be under pressure to get out of an unpleasant but playable group. That will be the basis,” adds Straka.
