2013

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Third Year of the League

In 2013, the Czech Futsal League for the Blind entered its third year. Again, only two teams participated: Avoy MU Brno (the defending champion from 2011) and BSC Prague. This time both teams competed only three times, with the last scheduled match not played and abandoned to the disadvantage of Avoy MU Brno and twice the teams measured their strength in their own tournaments. The League Cup was won by the Prague team again, which defended its victory from 2012. Here is a list of dates, results and goal scorers:

• 28th April in Prague: BSC Praha vs. Avoy MU Brno 2:0, goals scored.
• 30th May in Bučovice: Avoy MU Brno vs. BSC Praha 1:0, goals scored: Mrázek
• 1st September in Prague: BSC Praha vs. Avoy MU Brno 3:0, goals scored: Valer 3
• 1st October in Brno: Avoy MU Brno vs. BSC Praha 0:3 cont.

1st Match of the League (report)

The last Sunday of April brought not only chilly spring weather, underestimated by many of the participants, but also the beginning of the 2013 blind football league season. This season poses huge challenges to both teams, especially the international tournament in Bučovice, where they will be able to compete with the world's club elite and to demonstrate the quality of Czech blind football. As this was also the first match away after the winter break and at the same time the last match before the above-mentioned tournament, it offered a good opportunity for the coaches as well as viewers to assess not only the performance of the two teams, but also the current form of the individual players and the quality of the winter preparation. The team of Avoy MU Brno, virtually complete for this match, boasted a new left defender, Vojtěch Polášek, and BSC Prague came with two new acquisitions (Miroslav Babický, Tomáš Mysliveček) as well. Moreover, the Brno team strived to improve their reputation from the last season when they had to pass the league cup to their rivals from Prague.

The match, refereed by just one referee, and a rather inexperienced one as it was only his second blind football match as a referee, started at 1.45 pm as planned. However, the opening minutes of the long awaited match were not so great for the Brno team. Their initial confusion and nervousness brought about a crisis in Avoy MU's defence, and it was extremely easy for Lukáš Valer to change the score to 1:0 as early as in the 3rd minute. His shot towards the right post, though not uncatchable, took Brno's goalkeeper (and maybe Prague's best shooter himself as well) by surprise and ended in the net. It should be mentioned though in defence of Brno's goalkeeper no. 1 Tomáš Bukovský that he began the match with an injury of his right hand and had to be treated just before the opening whistle. His performance during the rest of the match was flawless. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about the other members of the team. The quick first goal took Brno's players aback and it took them a long time to even get to the opponent's half. Apart from Jan Mrázek's sporadic attempts to threaten Prague's goal, Brno's play lacked in exciting action. The Prague team, unlike their colleagues from Brno, could rely on careful defence and therefore were able to concentrate on offensive activities, which soon brought their fruits in the form of another blow for Brno: it was again the experienced Lukáš Valer who managed to find a gap between the defending players and blasted an uncatchable shot towards the right goalpost. The shocked players of Avoy MU then tried to at least prevent another change in the score before the break, which they managed. Hence the half time score was 0-2 to BSC Prague.

The second half brought a change: apparently the players made use of the break to shape out and were determined to fight for the final score. Their nervousness and insecurity, so typical of their performance in the first half, had disappeared, and the Brno team created a few nice chances. Yet there was the old trouble that the team has been struggling with for a long time: their inability to score from what are often 100% goal chances. Still, Jan Mrázek's and Jiří Fenz's attempts could make the fans happy, as they at least managed to push the opponent's goalkeeper into action and a couple of times even endangered him by great shots. Moreover, Jiří Fenz played very well in an unusual position of midfielder. Nevertheless, all this effort failed to produce a scored goal that would mean a chance of equalizing; not even Mrázek, who got around a defending player on the right side and aimed his classic hard shot under the crossbar, could change that, as the shot went just above Ondřej Kričfaluši's goal. Brno's defence, including the newbie Polášek, then faced several promising actions by Prague's players, but their offensive activities were, surprisingly, not so fruitful, probably because Lukáš Valer did not play that much in the second half. From the point of view of Avoy MU, then, the second half brought a relatively even game thanks to an improvement in the performance of the defenders, midfielders as well as forwards. As usual, we can regret the wasted chances, which were not few and at least one of them was a clear goal chance. After 25 minutes of playing time the game was ended by the final whistle of the referee, whose overall performance does not deserve a negative assessment if we take into account his minimal experience with blind football.

On the whole, the match surely did not meet our team's expectations. On the other hand, at least it served as the necessary indicator of our current form and showed that we have to improve a great deal if we want to achieve a decent result in the coming tournament. Hopefully everybody in the Avoy MU Brno team will take this fact on board. We will see for ourselves very soon - in the next match of the 2013 league season, which is going to take place during the tournament in Bučovice.

Avoy MU Brno line-up: goalkeeper Tomáš Bukovský, players: Jiří Fenz, Jan Hegr, Katka Lingová, Aleš Moravec, Jan Mrázek, Vojtěch Polášek, Pavel Ondra, Matěj Plch, guide: Jitka Graclíková, coach: Ondřej Banovský.

BSC Praha line-up: goalkeeper Ondřej Kričfaluši, players: Zdeněk Barlok, Michal Rokůsek, Jiří Sedláček, Petra Schejbalová, Lukáš Valer, guide: Katka Oplová, coach: Jiří Kotrč.

Scoring player: Valer 2 (BSC Praha).

Eins-Energie Cup II

9 March 2013, Chemnitz (Germany)

Participating teams: Chemnitzer FC, VSV Würzburg, FC St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., Avoy MU Brno

On Saturday 9 March, Avoy MU Brno was invited to a rematch of the tournament in Chemnitz, Germany, where they once again competed against quality teams from the local league. There were no surprises like last time, but the Brno team did not come without medals again. Good defensive play, despite the absence of key goalkeepers, ensured the Brno team a worthy third place.

Less than a quarter of a year after the Brno blind futsal players showed an excellent performance at the Eins Energie Cup in Chemnitz, Germany, when they came in second place, and only because of a worse overall score than the winner, there was an opportunity to repeat this beautiful experience. Literally. The organizing FC Chemnitzer invited the exact same teams as last time. A rematch with not only the home hosts, but also FC St. Pauli Hamburg and VSV Würzburg awaited us. Whether it was the intention of the German organizers to try to repair their reputation from the last tournament, we will never know, but the Avoy MU Brno team went to Germany with a much better line-up than last time. The only thing that might have disturbed the positive atmosphere before the start of the first match was the fact that the current number one goalkeeper and the hero of the last tournament with 100% successful shots, Tomas Bukovsky, was unable to attend. In his place, the more or less inexperienced newcomer Jiri Gigimov was called up to the goal, so he had to attempt the almost impossible: to resist the expected pressure of the German forwards and score fewer goals than our forwards manage to score.

However, the initial fears about the form of the goalkeeper, for whom this was the first official match, as well as the general pre-match nervousness were dispelled by the first opponent that Avoy MU Brno was expecting. The Hamburg team FC St. Pauli started to dangerously test our defensive formation right from the beginning of the match, which, despite the initial confusion regarding the navigation with the goalkeeper, successfully repelled several unpleasant shots. The fact that we were facing the Hamburg team for the second time also played a part, allowing us to concentrate on their key players, which our midfielders in particular managed to cover consistently. However, the same cannot be said about the performance of the attacking formation. In general, the Brno team's strikers suffer from frequent shooting impotence, but if you add to that the inability to combine in the midfield, you are looking at a problem. Without scoring goals, it is possible to draw, but unfortunately not to win. Despite several nice clearances and shot attempts from Jan Mrazek, Avoy MU Brno failed to pose a real threat to FC St. Pauli in the second half. This was despite the fact that they allowed themselves to bring in two young rookies who took turns at the defensive position. The first match of the tournament was a well-deserved 0-0 draw for the Brno team, thanks to the good performance of the defence and midfielder Aleš Moravec.

Our team entered the second match against the stronger enemy VSV Würzburg with the determination to at least repeat the excellent defensive performance from the first match and possibly break the shooting jinx. At this point, none of our team knew that a surprise awaited them in the form of two German national team players who were absent during the last encounter and did not appear on the bench of the opponent. Avoy MU Brno, however, did not let himself be caught off guard by the brilliantly combining opponent and tried to actively repel the opponent's forays in front of the net. After a while, the growing confidence was reflected in the play of the central and attacking formation, which managed to get into surprisingly interesting shooting positions. One such Brno counter-attack resulted in a corner kick, which was converted into a goal with the help of the opponent's defenders. Since at this point there was not much left before the half-time whistle, the Brno team could enjoy a rather surprising lead after the first half. However, the smiles on our players' faces froze rather quickly. Right from the beginning of the second half, the opponent started to play as a substitute, one of the German players got a great release on the right wing and sent a bouncing ball diagonally towards the goal. The stunned goalkeeper could only watch sadly as the ball went around him and headed exactly towards the bar. The equalizing goal brought encouragement to the opposing team's ranks, but Avoy wasn't going to be put down lightly. Jan Mrazek was able to break free several times through well defending opponents but their goalkeeper always made a great save, often through a stroke of luck. However, the Germans managed to reverse a well-paced match and the experience and qualities of German Futsal for the Blind were evident here as well. Excellently played corner kicks resulted in almost two identical goals in the net of the Brno keeper. One of the attacking players, with the help of the midfielder, always deflected the Brno defence perfectly in both cases, and the other attacker finished with an almost uncatchable diagonal shot across the goal at shoulder height. We really have a lot to learn here. Fortunately for the shaken players from Brno, the referee's whistle soon ended their next martyrdom. Avoy MU Brno lost their second match of the tournament to VSV Würzburg 1-3.

As a result of this loss and other tournament results, it was already clear before the final performance of the Brno team that the battle with FC Chemnitzer would be mainly about the honorary third place, as it was clear that the first two places would not be taken by the organizers. This fact was not only felt but also seen on the pitch. The home team, motivated by the support of the fans, wanted to fight for the victory and gave the Avoy MU Brno players a hard time. However, they managed to cover the key Chemnitz midfielder, who transferred here from MTV Stuttgart, with precision, and so the nervousness in both camps gradually thickened. In the end, however, Brno's only strength in this match full of emotions was playing from a secure defence. An unquestionable role here was played by the already mentioned Aleš Moravec, whose great physical condition allowed him to immediately return to the defense in case of losing the ball and prevent the German counterattack from being outnumbered. The spectators could thus enjoy quite dynamic futsal with emphasis on the central formation, full of tough personal battles and determination to win. However, the great work of both defensive formations plus the quality play of the midfielders could not possibly lead to a large number of shots. The final match of the tournament between Avoy MU Brno and FC Chemnitzer thus ended in a 0-0 draw again, to the discomfort of the organisers, who were left with the potato medal.

The winner of the tournament was VSV Würzburg, followed by FC St. Pauli, with a rather big surprise compared to the previous performances. However, Avoy MU Brno also did not lose its reputation and the third place in the tournament, which brings together quality teams from the German league, is a nice calling card for Brno futsal. I guess we can only hope that the experience gained from these international tournaments can be transformed into a real ability to score goals, especially at a time when the Brno team is hosting the world's elite clubs in this sport at an international tournament in Bučovice.

Avoy MU Brno line-up: goalkeeper Jiri Gigimov, players: Jiří Fenz, Jan Hegr, Kateřina Hegrová, Aleš Moravec, Jan Mrázek, Pavel Ondra, Matěj Plch, navigator behind the goal: Jitka Graclíková, coach: Milan Duda.

The report's author: Jiří Gigimov

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Bučovice Blind Football Cup

24 to 26 May 2013, Bučovice

The last weekend of May 2013 in Bučovice (near Brno) saw an event that was extraordinary not only for blind football fans. The Avoy MU Brno team managed to organize an international blind football championship with the participation of prominent teams of the world. The tournament marked the European premiere of the current Paralympics champions ICB-Bahia from Brazil, the birthplace of blind football. Other participants included the team from Worcester, England and two German teams from Stuttgart and Hamburg, as well as both of Czech blind football teams (Avoy MU Brno and BSC Prague).

Report about the Tournament

Rainy tournament opening attended by the mayor of Bučovice

The tremendously organized tournament was launched on Saturday, May 25. All the competing teams gathered at 8.30 and the ceremonial kick-off was performed by the mayor of Bucovice, Dr. Radovan Valek. The players of Avoy MU Brno were put to a test at the very start of the tournament by a challenging draw. They were to play the initial match of the championship against the Brazilian ICB-Bahia, a clear favourite for the victory. Quite understandable nervousness was apparent in the home-team before the kick-off, but the players from Brno did not let nerves or the rainy and cold Saturday morning weather get to them. Moreover, they turned these conditions, harsh on the Brazilians, to their benefit. Home-field advantage, the cold and rain and the fact that it was the Brazilians’ first European match were all favourable for the Brno team. Following beautiful play and superb defense of the Brno team, they were finally defeated by the Brazilian stars, finishing with a respectable score of 0:3. Considering the strength of their rivals and the Brazilians’ performance during the tournament, Avoy MU Brno can indeed be proud of this result, a fact which reflected positively on the Brno team’s spirits.

While the team from Brno was waiting till noon for their next match, other teams played. First there was a match between the German blind football league members FC St. Pauli and MTV Stuttgart, which ended, as expected, 0:5 in favour of the masters from Stuttgart. In the third match before noon, Czech players from BSC Prague were defeated 0:2 by the champions from BFC Worcester, England.

The victory of Avoy MU Brno over friends from St. Pauli

As their second performance of the championship, the team from Brno played a very important match against FC St. Pauli Hamburg. Since it was not the first time our team stood against the German players, and their previous encounters ended in a draw, the Brno players, encouraged by their quality performance in the match against Brazil, were all the more motivated to win. It was, however, quite a challenge. The young players of the Hamburg team started off the match quite aggressively and soon after the kick-off they started for the goal, guarded by the team’s goalkeeper Tomáš Bukovský. Bukovský, though, managed to fend off many difficult shots from Hamburg’s strikers. On the other side, the game saw some great shots from Brno’s best forward, Jan Mrázek. It was Mrázek who in the second half managed to score the first goal of the match. The Avoy MU Brno players kept their luck for the rest of the match, leading to them defeating FC St. Pauli Hamburg for the first time and gaining three points. Winning 1:0 in an international championship and over a team of comparable performance had been a long-time dream of our team and it provided a lot of further encouragement.

After this Avoy MU Brno’s success, it was the Prague team’s turn to tackle the Brazilians. On a no longer rainy pitch they were not able to break the winning streak of the canary-yellow clad team, and were defeated with a nasty score of 0:8. The next match, promising an attractive duel between two teams of national champions, was the match of MTV Stuttgart and BFC Worcester. The Germans proved their team strength as they scored two goals and in this way secured for themselves a chance to aspire for the gold. It is worth noting, however, that the English team only arrived with four players, who were consequently in the pitch at all times. Even with this disadvantage they performed supremely, showing their excellent physical condition.

Avoy MU Brno begins to aspire for a medal position

After these two matches the team from Brno returned to the pitch, this time as a part of a Czech-Moravian match against BSC Prague, which was played also as a part of the national competition. With the players from Brno encouraged by the win from their previous game and Prague’s team lacking their key striker Lukáš Valer, the expectations were of a balanced match. Brno’s players, being the hosts of the championship, held the advantage of a home field, which showed as early as in the first half of the match. Jan Mrázek, getting back into shape, shot the penalty shot ordered after the foul on Aleš Moravec, and succeeded in overpowering Prague’s defense and scoring a goal. The subsequent strengthening of the defense prevented the team from Brno from going for another goal, which was balanced by their own defense, keeping the Prague team from scoring at all. Avoy MU Brno won the match 1:0, catching up with BSC Prague in the national competition and gaining three more points in this prestigious championship.

High point of the tournament, the wonderful game of ICB-Bahia and MTV Stuttgart

The time of 16:00 saw the kick-off of the de-facto finale match between ICB Bahia and MTV Stuttgart. This game was granted to be exciting, and the match itself only served to prove the prestige of both teams. The match, which saw several penalty shots and a red card, ended in the well-deserved draw of 3:3. This meant that the winner of the championship was about to be decided according to the number of goals scored. The following games were influenced by this fact. In the next match, BFC Worcester defeated FC St. Pauli Hamburg 1:0. The fight for the best score started in the match that followed, in which MTV Stuttgart set off its shooting machine, causing the Prague team’s goalkeeper to recover the ball from his net on seven occasions during Saturday’s last game.

The Sunday fight for 3rd place

On Sunday, the scoring marathon was absent only from the two games of the teams that ended up in the four last places of the championship. For the team from Brno, this meant that there was still a chance to go for the bronze medal, provided they do not lose the first match on Sunday. This condition was fulfilled all through the first half of the match against Worcester, which ended surprisingly with a goalless draw. In the second half, with Avoy still determined to fight for the third place, Worcester scored during the first minutes. This did not discourage the players from Brno, and eventually they managed to score a goal, thanks to Jan Mrázek. This was a source of great joy for the fans of Avoy MU Brno, as a draw would keep alive the hopes for the third place. This joy was short-lived, as one of BFC Worcester’s players broke Brno’s defense and scored a surprising winning goal. This bitter defeat 1:2ended the hopes of Avoy MU Brno for placing third in the championship.

The scoring race

In the next match, preceding another game of Brno’s team, the Brazilian champions defeated FC St. Pauli 0:9, which left Brno with a challenging adversary in the form of MTV Stuttgart, now in the pursuit of catching up with the Brazilian’s superior score. The performance of Brno’s players was unbalanced in this game. Avoy was losing 3:0 six minutes into half-time, but then the next two goals from the Germans waited till the end of the first half. For the first nine minutes of the second half, the Brno players were able to fend off the German champions and avoid getting another goal, but in the following ten minutes, eight goals were scored, leading to Avoy MU Brno being defeated in their last match of the tournament 0:13 by MTV Stuttgart. It should be noted that at this moment two of the key players were missing from the team from Brno, having been injured and having played despite pain and difficulties.

After this match it was clear that Avoy MU Brno can be proud of a well-deserved fourth place. Considering that the three medal positions were won by teams from countries with considerably longer tradition of the sport, this is a very good result, showing though that there is still need for improvement. The following match saw the (now quite tired) players of BFC Worcester against the Brazilian ICB Bahia, who defeated Worcester a quite surprising 0:14. The English had already secured the third place before the match, while the Brazilians needed to score at least 8 goals, which they managed to do, thus winning the tournament at a 3:37 final score. In the very least match of the championship, BSC Praha secured a draw 1:1 against FC St. Pauli, and the teams then divided amongst themselves the fifth and sixth place.

The tournament’s closing

The closing ceremony was carried on in a very friendly and joyous atmosphere, with thanks to the organizers of the championship as well as to the teams for their superb performance and the wonderful football experience they gave to all of us. The organizers gave out the medals, certificates and trophies for the medal positions and decorated the best shooter (Jeferson Jefinho Goncalves, ICB Bahia), defender (Mulgheta Russom, MTV Stuttgart) and goalkeeper (Maximilian Ziegert, FC St Pauli). The wish was declared that this was not a singular occasion. Let us hope that after this big success, this event will be held again next year.

Avoy MU Brno line-up: goalkeeper Tomáš Bukovský, players: Jiří Fenz, Jan Hegr, Katka Lingová, Aleš Moravec, Jan Mrázek, Vojtěch Polášek, Pavel Ondra, Matěj Plch, guide: Jitka Graclíková, coach: Martin Jelínek.

Report by: Jiří Gigimov

More Information

• All details including links to the final tournament report, photo galleries, participants' feedback, media articles and reports, results, etc. can be found on this tournament website.
• The team led by Robert Fischer made a documentary about the tournament which can be accessed on this YouTube page.

Summer Camp

28 July to 1 August 2013, Bučovice

The fourth blind football summer camp took place in the usual setting of Bučovice, from July 28 to August 1. This time we were joined by our friends from St. Pauli Hamburg, whose attendance made the whole event very special.

The two teams joined together in training, which further cemented their relationship, and was a source of mutual inspiration. Since the temperatures were extremely high, the players were very happy to take advantage of the generous offer by the local primary school to use their indoor pool after each training session.

The camp's main events were two matches played by the participating teams. First of them ended on a 2-2 draw (goals were scored by Jan Mrázek from Avoy MU Brno and Jonathan Tönsing and Serdal Celebi from St. Pauli Hamburg). In the second match, the team from Brno suffered a crushing 0-3 defeat due to Serdal's hattrick.

The camp was beneficial to both the players and the coaches of Avoy MU Brno, offering many extraordinary experiences, motivation for further matches and affirming our friendship with St. Pauli Hamburg. We are very grateful for all of this. Avoy MU Brno is now counting the days towards the Hallenmasters 2013 tournament taking place on 19–20 October.

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Aneta Langerová Stars in Avoy MU Brno

On the first Thursday of September, the team of Avoy MU Brno welcomed singer Aneta Langerová, who had an opportunity to try out blind football and see how Brno's players are doing. The players and coaches of Avoy MU Brno involved Aneta in the training for the upcoming tournament in Prague. Blindfolded, she got a first-hand experience of the way the players warm up and practise ball control technique, passes, tactics, formations as well as shooting, and in the end she helped out Honza and Kačka Hegr in the defence. She was accompanied by documentary director Olga Špátová, who recorded Aneta's experience; the documentary is going to be screened at the beneficial night called Concert for Světluška. We would like to express our thanks to Aneta and all members of her team.

More Information

• Olga Špátová's documentary Aneta Langerová kope za Avoy MU Brno, which was broadcast on 2 November 2013 on Czech Television as part of the Light for the Firefly 2013 fundraiser
• Photo gallery for the event on our Facebook page (photo authors: Helena Svobodova and Michal Jašek)

Cup of Central European Cities

A few months after us, the other Czech team BSC Prague organized their own tournament. We were also invited and played three matches with these teams on a weekend in early September:

1. Sprint Wroclaw - Avoy MU Brno 7:0
2. BSC Praha - Avoy MU Brno 3:0
3. Avoy MU Brno - LASS Budapest 5:2 (all goals were scored by Jan Mrazek)

The winner of the tournament was the Polish team, the Brno team finished third and took home the bronze medals.

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Photo gallery (author: Silvie Hrbáčková)

2. Saxon Blind Football Tournament in Leipzig

5–6 October 2013, Leipzig (Germany)

For the first weekend of October, Avoy MU Brno were invited to participate in the second year of a tournament taking place in Leipzig. Their contenders were four German teams and one Polish team. The German teams were FC St. Pauli 1910, FC Chemnitzer and VSV Würzburg, all of them known to our team, and ISC Viktoria Dortmund, who had only played against Brno once before. The players still ill-remembered the Polish team, Sprint Wroclaw, for having been defeated by them in the Cup of Central European Cities.

The draw placed Avoy MU Brno in group A, along with the teams from Dortmund and Würzburg. They were also chosen for the opening match of the tournament, which took place on Saturday morning. The team arrived in Leipzig incomplete and had not played indoors for a long time, but they were quite confident in the first match against ISC Viktoria Dortmund. Unfortunately the Brno midfielder made a mistake, which cost the team a goal. Due to control problems in the midfield, our strikers were almost incapable of tackling the opponent's goal. Avoy MU Brno ended up defeated 0−1 by ISC Viktoria Dortmund. The Brno players entered the second match against VSV Würzburg with hopes of gaining at least one point, which would provide them with a better position in the tournament and a chance to play in the finals. However, the German team was well prepared both tactically and physically. The match clearly showed the shortcomings of Avoy MU Brno, particularly in the midfield. The German team scored three goals during the match. The team was not crushed by that, and Jan Mrázek even managed to score a goal in the closing minutes of the match. Nevertheless, the match was won 1−3 by VSV Würzburg. As they were defeated 0:1 in their previous match with ISC Viktoria Dortmund, Würzburg were not proceeding into the second day of the tournament from the first place in their group (it was taken by Dortmund). For the team from Brno, this result meant that they would not be playing the semi-finals, and that they would only play one game − for the fifth place − the following day.

In the second group, FC Chemnitzer reached a draw with Sprint Wroclaw (1−1) and defeated FC St. Pauli 1910 (2−1), securing the first place in the group. There was a surprising result to the match between FC St. Pauli and Sprint Wroclaw, with the German team managing a 0−0 draw in a game with the champions-to-be. Nevertheless, the German team ultimately placed at the bottom of their group, which meant that they would competing against Avoy on Sunday.

Sunday morning started off with two semi-final matches: Sprint Wroclaw − ISC Dortmund (1−0) and ISC Würzburg − FC Chemnitzer (3−1). The Polish team won the final match with a one-goal difference. ISC Viktoria Dortmund then defeated FC Chemnitzer (1−0) in the match for the third place, so both the bronze and the silver medals went to German teams. The first place went to Sprint Wroclaw, for whom this was the second tournament victory in the last two months.

In their final match of the tournament, Avoy MU Brno played FC St. Pauli 1910. The game’s dynamic and the number of scoring chances on both sides proved that the two teams are of similar abilities. At the end of the game the score was 0−0, prompting a series of penalty kicks. Despite their efforts, none of the strikers were able to overcome the team’s goalkeepers, Tomáš Bukovský and Michael Haine. In the end, both teams shared the fifth place.

• Teams Final Placings
• 1st place: Sprint Wroclaw
• 2nd place: VSV Wurzburg
• 3rd place: ISC Viktoria Dortmund
• 4th place: FC Chemnitzer
• 5th−6th place: FC St. Pauli 1910 together with Avoy MU Brno

All Matches Summary

Final: Sprint Wroclaw − VSV Wurzburg 1-0

Semi-final:

ISC Viktoria Dortmund − Sprint Wroclaw 0-1

FC Chemnitzer − VSV Wurzburg 1-3

Match for the 3rd place: FC Chemnitzer − ISC Viktoria Dortmund 0-1

Match for the 5th place: FC St. Pauli 1910 − Avoy MU Brno 0-0

Group A

1. Avoy MU Brno − ISC Viktoria Dortmund 0-1
2. ISC Viktoria Dortmund − VSV Wurzburg 1-0
3. VSV Wurzburg − Avoy MU Brno 3-1

Group B

1. FC Chemnitzer − Sprint Wroclaw 1-1
2. FC St. Pauli 1910 − FC Chemnitzer 1-2
3. Sprint Wroclaw − FC St. Pauli 1910 0-0

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6th Hallenmasters in Hamburg

19–20 October 2013, Hamburg (Germany)

The Brno club of blind football was invited by their friends from FC St. Pauli 1910 to come to Hamburg on 19-20 October to participate in the 6th year of their Hallenmasters tournament. The motto of the event being Keep Your Mind Wild Open, the tournament took place in a very nice and friendly atmosphere, and compared to other German tournaments, this one was well-balanced in terms of team performance. There were 8 teams altogether; Brno as the only foreign team could expect to meet almost all the teams of the German Bundesliga. The draw was quite favourable for the Brno team: they did not have to play against the German league winners, MTV Stuttgart, in their matches within a group on Saturday. However, that does not mean that they did not have to face first-rate teams from the German league, the quality of which is somewhat higher than that of the Czech league.

In the first match on Saturday, played like all the other matches in a gym with good acoustics, Avoy MU competed against ISC Dortmund. Avoy’s fresh memory of Dortmund’s play and tactics from their match two weeks ago in Leipzig, Germany, which ended in a tight victory for Dortmund, was a good starting point for a successful return match. Still, their play with a secure defence and the midfielder actively defending only brought its fruits after a long and tough fight. Avoy players did a good job in the defence and managed to pose a threat to the Dortmund goal; nevertheless, after a mistake in Avoy’s defence formation one of Dortmund’s strikers succeeded in scoring right at the beginning of the second half. Surprisingly though, this situation did not devastate the Brno team, who continued trying to find a gap in the rival’s defence. They also managed to dominate the centre of the pitch, which led to an increase in the number of fouls on the part of Dortmund and eventually to an 8-meter penalty in favour of Brno for the third team foul. Jan Mrázek stood up to the challenge with confidence and equalized by a hard-line shot aimed towards the left post. As there was not much time left until the final whistle, Avoy MU Brno managed a valuable draw 1-1 against ISC Viktoria Dortmund.

In the next match on Saturday Avoy competed against a relatively unknown team from Berlin. Pleased with the result of their first match, the Avoy players started their second match with self-confidence. Especially the way our midfielder Aleš Moravec played indicated that we would be a tough nut to crack for our rival. The goalkeeper Tomáš Bukovský also played very well and supported the whole team by a few great saves. The ever growing pressure made itself felt towards the end of the second half when our striker made use of the opponent’s mistake. It had been long since the Avoy players managed to score directly from playing and the greater was their joy now. Our players tried very hard to keep the fragile one-goal lead, and managed to do so until the referee’s final whistle. As a result, Avoy MU Brno’s second match ended in a surprising yet well-deserved victory over LFC Berlin 1-0, which gave our players a chance to make their dream come true and make it into the semi-finals on Sunday.

The last match of Avoy MU Brno was also the final match on the busy Saturday schedule of the Hamburg tournament. Our team played against the well-known Chemnitzer FC, whose team was complete at this tournament and who needed to win the match in order to qualify for the semi-finals. As in the previous two matches, Avoy focused on good defence. The excellent performance of the two defenders was strongly supported from the centre of the pitch, where most collisions of this tense and emotional match took place. It is true that precisely aimed shots on the opponent’s goal were scarce but Chemnitzer FC did not have too many dangerous scoring opportunities either. In the second half, our players tried not to concede a goal and waited for an opportunity to break through the opponent’s defence with the help of Jan Mrázek, who was playing far forward. They even succeeded in doing that a few times but unfortunately the shots never went between the three posts. Neither did the key player of the German team manage to overcome our defence and so the match between Avoy MU Brno and Chemnitzer FC ended in a scoreless draw, 0-0.Therefore, Saturday was an unexpected success for Avoy, as they did not lose a single match and gained valuable 5 points, which meant that they qualified into the semi-finals, to be played on Sunday, based on their second place in Group B.

The Brno players spent the rest of Saturday in a relaxed mood stemming from their good performance and great results even though they knew their semi-final opponent on Sunday would be the winner of Group A – the much-feared German champion MTV Stuttgart. Saturday night continued by a nice dinner for all participants, which took place right in the heart of the FC St. Pauli stadium and was accompanied by a cultural performance of some of the teams. Our team received great applause for its singing performance and thus the generally very agreeable atmosphere was the icing on the cake of our expectations and wishes.

Our Sunday match against MTV Stuttgart amounted to an attempt to enhance Brno team’s reputation after the last match against this team, which had ended in a crushing defeat. The German team had to do without their celebrated coach and more or less had to play without the central navigator. Avoy MU Brno tried to continue their successful defence tactics from Saturday: to focus on defence and attempt to come up with counter-attacks. In the first half, we managed to cover all offensive players but in the second half the physical as well as technical superiority of the German team made itself felt. Gradually, Stuttgart started to dominate the pitch completely and it became clear that they would overcome our goalkeeper eventually. Therefore, after the first goal five minutes before the final whistle, our fate was sealed. After that, the remaining players of our team got a chance to fight the German offensive: at least, our play became a little livelier thanks to that. Yet it was too late for a score reversal; the opponent made use of a gap in our defence and scored a second goal. Avoy MU Brno, after an impressive performance, lost to the winners-to-be of the tournament MTV Stuttgart 0-2.

Our team’s last match in the tournament was the fight for the third place against an unpleasant opponent. It was LFC Berlin, defeated by Avoy MU Brno the previous day. On Sunday, however, LFC Berlin changed their tactics. While we were rigorously focusing on the defence and did not let the opponent penetrate it even if it meant great exertion of our midfielder and a few fouls, the LFC Berlin coach left the team’s crucial striker sitting on the bench and concentrated on the centre of the pitch. As a result, the Germans managed to keep the ball for long periods and our only chance was quick counter-attacks at the expense of mustering all our strength. Just when penalties were becoming a likely possibility, the LFC Berlin coach sent his best player on the pitch. Although in the Saturday match our players succeeded in covering him, this time he only needed a minute on the pitch: he took a corner, got rid of the defenders and without any hesitation used his legendary right foot to send the ball under the crossbar. The goalkeeper, who played very well, managed to touch the rapidly approaching ball, yet could not prevent it from ending up in the net. Therefore, twenty seconds before the end of the standard playing time, our hopes of winning the bronze medal were dashed. Avoy MU Brno was beaten by LFC Berlin 0-1. Still, let’s hope their excellent performance against stronger teams and the fourth position in the tournament – which was a success – will be sufficient motivation for our players to keep up their interest in this fascinating team sport and to continue playing with even more enthusiasm.

LFC Berlin came in third, the tournament organizers from FC St. Pauli 1910 took the second place and the well-deserved victory went to MTV Stuttgart.

Final Results

1. MTV Stuttgart
2. FC St. Pauli 1910
3. ISC Berlin
4. Avoy MU Brno
5. PSV Köln
6. Chemnitzer FC

7.-8. ISC Dortmund, VSV Würzburg

All the Matches Summary

Group A and B Matches (Saturday)

1. FC St. Pauli− MTV Stuttgart 0:1
2. Chemnitzer FC− LFC Berlin 0:1
3. PSV Köln− VSV Würzburg 2:0
4. ISC Dortmund− Avoy MU Brno 1:1
5. MTV Stuttgart− VSV Würzburg 3:0
6. LFC Berlin− Avoy MU Brno 0:1
7. FC St. Pauli− PSV Köln 1:0
8. Chemnitzer FC− ISC Dortmund 0:0
9. MTV Stuttgart− PSV Köln 0:0
10. LFC Berlin− ISC Dortmund 2:0
11. VSV Würzburg− FC St. Pauli 0:2
12. Avoy MU Brno− Chemnitzer FC 0:0

Play-off and Finals (Sunday)

Semifinals:

• MTV Stuttgart− Avoy MU Brno 2:0
• LSC Berlin− FC St. Pauli 1910 0:1 after penalties

Match for 7th place: ISC Dortmund− VSV Würzburg 0:0 (by default)

Match for 5th place: PSV Köln− Chemnitzer FC 1:0 after penalties

Match for 3rd place: LFC Berlin− Avoy MU Brno 1:0

Final Match: MTV Stuttgart− FC St. Pauli 1910 5:1

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