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He played his first match at the European Championship. Against the star-studded Portuguese led by the legendary Ronaldo. And although he scored his own goal in the 1:2 defeat and the ball went under him in a strange crouch between his legs in the set time, which the shooting Conceicao used to score the decisive goal, the twenty-four-year-old stopper Robin Hranáč was the best footballer of the Czech team. Now it is necessary for him to recover from two unlucky moments before the crucial match against Georgia on Saturday.
The Pilsen defender could hardly have had more conflicting feelings after the match. Although much bigger mistakes preceded both Portuguese goals elsewhere. In the first case, the goalkeeper Staněk had to keep the ball with wet gloves, but even because of the downpour, he preferred to play it safe and go forward. Hranáč was already too close to react in any way.
In the set-up, Vladimír Coufal easily lost the fight at the line, and in addition, Tomáš Holeš missed the pass, so Hranáč could no longer coordinate the movement better and ended up being the main loser, whose ball slipped between his legs.
However, sharp criticism is not appropriate, rather praise for the way he handled most of the clashes with the stars of elite teams under pressure. When you consider that a year ago he was playing in Pardubice in the play-off for the first league, it is an impressive shift.
“He played a great game”
“I think he played not a good game, but a great game. A boy who played a playoff for the first league a year ago is now at the head of the Czech defense at the Euros, that’s a beautiful story. We will not blame him for the goals at all,” said assistant national team coach Jaroslav Köstl.
“We tell the defenders that in situations like the first goal they have to be pessimistic. You go to prevent something and there is nothing you can do. For the second goal, it was a string of errors that somehow found their way to Robin. There was also an unfortunate streak, he was no longer able to react. We would like a little better position from him there, which are details we need to work on. We supported him, and so did the boys, because they know that it was not a casual thing. He will get over it and be good again,” he assured.
He has all the prerequisites for it. Physical (strength, height and speed) and also mental.
“When the match comes, I put on two flaps and I don’t really notice the atmosphere around me. It doesn’t make me decide. I turn on match mode. You have to deal with everything on the pitch with a cool head,” he told Pilsen’s club website some time ago. “The most important thing is to get it right in your head. When you play a match in the third Czech league where 30 people come, you don’t have the nerve to screw something up. No one will stone you there. On the contrary, in the league and in Europe, you already have to deal with the pressure that is on you. You get used to it over time and then you start to see what potential you have.”
Hranáč comes from Všerub, he started playing football in SK Kdyn in 1920, near the border with Germany, after watching his father’s matches. He begged his parents until they signed him up for the club. However, he left the first training session in tears, because they only ran circles. “I came back after 14 days and ended up staying at it,” he recalled.
He mostly played in the midfield, scoring goals, but in the duels against the strong Pilsen, the coach preferred to use him in defense. And there he liked Viktorka so much that he already stayed behind. The parents, who worked in Germany, did not let their son go to boarding school in Pilsen until he was 14 years old.
A fighter who likes football
“I had to be able to take care of myself. I have been independent for a long time and that has given me a lot in life. You learn to rely on yourself. And if I ever needed help, my parents are always there for me,” he says gratefully.
However, the road to Ačka Pilsen was winding. “I wasn’t very prominent and it didn’t look like I should be a league footballer at the time. A lot has changed in 18 years. We started playing in the Youth Champions League and at that moment I realized that it could work out and that I would have to do something for it too,” he told the Viktoria website. “I started working on myself and it got so colorful that I ended up in the preparation of the A-team. That’s where I got to know how it works in big football.”
Video report: What happened before and during the match with Portugal. Video: List of Messages
In the junior Champions League, it was led by youth coach Jiří Žilák, and Hranáč’s current teammate from the club and national team, Pavel Šulc, was also in the team. “I know how difficult it was not long ago for them to even get to A. Plzeň. He must also have a great deal of luck,” recounts Žilák. “Robin is a fighter, he likes football, in terms of speed and tackles, he is a great player. Of course, I wasn’t as sure with him as with Šulcík that it could be all the way to top football and the national team, but he moved on. Hosting helped him tremendously, he gained self-confidence. And the speed, the way he handles the defensive is admirable. I’m happy for him.”
Hosting in Liptovský Mikuláš in the first Slovak league and subsequently in Pardubice fulfilled its purpose one hundred percent. “She helped me get to where I am now,” Hranáč nods.
First time in Pilsen
He still remembers the nervousness when he first came to the Pilsen league booth full of matadors. “In the dressing room there were players like David Limberský, Lukáš Hejda, Tomáš Hořava who played in the Champions League. It was something unbelievable, but with time you get used to it. You will find out that they are normal people like everyone else.”
Life match – football special Seznam Správ
Photo: List of News, Shutterstock.com
Life match
During the European Football Championship, it is appropriate to recall some absolutely exceptional performances of Czech and Czechoslovakian football players, which were written down in the history of not only our football at the European championships. There are a lot of players who experienced a very special day in the national jersey, which you will never forget. In the Life Match special, we remind the notorious ones, but also the somewhat forgotten ones.
It wasn’t until this year that Hranáč became a solid member of the Pilsen lineup. With excellent performances, he contributed to the campaign up to the quarter-finals of the Conference League, where West Bohemia was stopped by Fiorentina. Her former stopper and former captain of the Czech national team, Tomáš Ujfaluši, paid Hranáč a compliment: “He was the top defender in the league.”
After all, it’s official, Hranáč was named the best defender in the domestic competition after the season. “I’m surprised and I’m happy about it, but I’d rather have won the team trophy,” he said. “At the beginning of the season, it didn’t even look like I was going to start at all. In the end, it all turned around. They started betting more on younger players, which is beneficial for our team in the future.”
Not only for Pilsen, but also national. Hranáč takes on a pivotal role in defense.
And perhaps he chose a pile of bad luck for a long time to come.
