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| Centre of Konice |
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| Bus station in Konice. Waiting for the bus to Hvozd |
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| Stands below the pitch |
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| Village of Hvozd |
OFS Prostějov Cup Semi Final
Hvozd (7th tier) 1 Mostkovice (7th tier) 5
Attendance - 40
Last Wednesday I got a chance to go to the village of Hvozd (population 700). It is a village about 30km northwest of Prostějov, but it is very difficult to reach by public transportation on the weekend. Luckily for me there was a regional cup qualifier last week, which gave me the opportunity to finally go to Hvozd.
Getting to Hvozd during the week isn't too difficult. There are a few direct buses from Prostějov (1 hour) or you can take a train to Konice (45 minutes) and from there a bus to Hvozd (20 minutes). I had to take the last option because I missed the direct bus. Hvozd is a farming village surrounding by rolling hills and fields of grain. Up until a few years ago the local football side played in the 9th tier, but thanks to a little fortune they have climbed up to the 7th tier. They play in the Olomoucký Kraj 1 B třída skupina B, while Mostkovice play at the same level but in skupina A. Hvozd caused a major upset last week in the quarter-finals when they defeated 5th tier Konice. Six years ago Konice defeated Sigma Olomouc in the 2nd round of the Czech Cup.
Around the Czech Republic regional qualifiers are played for the national cup competition. The winners of the regional competitions get into the preliminary round of the Czech Cup. The competition in Okres Prostějov started the first week of August a full year ahead of the 2014/15 Czech Cup. The winner of Okres Prostějov Cup goes to the Olomoucký Kraj Semi Finals, where they meet a winner from one of the four other regions. The winner of the Olomoucký Kraj Cup Finals gets a place in the Czech Cup. Not many people know, but technically a 10th tier side (bottom of the pyramid) could earn a place in the preliminary round of the Czech Cup. However, usually the lowest sides in the preliminary round are from the 6th tier, and sometimes the 7th tier.
Now getting back to the Hvozd-Mostkovice game after that rather confusing explanation. Hvozd had a number of injury problems and were missing about 3 or 4 players from their line-up. This is just too many for a small village side. The visitors came with almost a full line-up, and showed their dominance with 2 goals int the first 8 minutes. The coach of Mostkovice later said it could have been 5 goals after the first 15 minutes.
Mostkovice will now play Kralice na Hané in the Okres Prostějov final to be played on September 18th in Smržice.
