“But of course the main thing for me was to grab the victory for ourselves. Not for anyone else,” he didn’t forget to mention. But even so, he can expect a crowd of congratulators from Letná on his phone.
Sparta, after losing 0:1 with Plzeň and the most recent hesitation with Baník (1:3), desperately needed Slovakia to beat the favored Viktoria at home. Otherwise, she would have lost five points to the second place in the table from the bronze spot.
And that “his” Kukučka, who is visiting Slovácko without an option until the end of the season, will help the reigning champion from a distance? He probably had a hard time betting on that.
After all, the talented defender last scored in a competitive match in the youth league, in autumn 2020 in the Ostrava Baník jersey against the Pardubice youth team.
Since then, Kukučka has had enough. Really. He overcame a serious knee injury. He moved to Sparta, which the management of Baník considered a heavenly injustice. He played for Letenské B in the second league, guested in the highest competition in Pardubice, and also played for the youth national team. Without unfurling the web at least once. Although at a height of 190 centimeters, he is a solid aerial threat.
Which, after all, he did against Victoria. After captain Michal Trávník’s cross from the set-piece, he found a spot in the box and cleared the ball with his head towards the post as he fell. Absolutely elusive. “We practiced like this all week. It probably couldn’t have been hit any better. I’m very happy, but the goal belongs to the whole team,” enjoyed the only scorer of Sunday afternoon.
But Kukučka was not in the lineup primarily to be active in the opponent’s goal. On the contrary. Together with his partner Filip Vašek and the wing backs (Gigli Ndefe, Merchas Doski), he was mainly responsible for eliminating the indisputable offensive quality of the West Bohemians.
Result? Pilsen only had one shot on goal and Slovácko kept a clean sheet.
Photo: Dalibor Glück, ČTK
Ondřej Kukučka from Slovácko during the match with Pilsen.
“We really appreciate the zeros at the back. Victoria has an extremely strong team. We needed a victory,” guesses Kukučka, who appeared in the league base of the selection from Uherské Hradiště for the fourth time this season. The performance spoke loudly of another opportunity, even at the expense of one of the more experienced duo Tomáš Břeček – Stanislav Hofmann.
“I’m very grateful that I’m getting a chance to prove myself. Despite the strong competition,” rejoices Kukučka, probably the most cheerful Spartan of the past weekend…
