Instead of a Bulgarian, we faced a German club in our last pre-season match in Austria. Our champion and cup-winning men's football team played against the former German champions and two-time DFB Cup winners, now second division Karlsruher SC, instead of CSZKA Sofia. Our sporting director, Tamás Hajnal's former club finished 12th in the Bundesliga 2 the previous year. On the penultimate day of our second training camp in Austria, Stanislav Cherchesov sent out the following starting line-up: Dibusz – Wingo, Knoester, Kovacevic, Civic – Loncar, Vécsei, Laidouni – Tokmac, Boli, Traoré.

First half

The two sides met on a wet pitch, as torrential rain poured down on Kössen before the meeting. The match started dreamily. Franck Boli chipped the ball out to Stjepan Loncar inside the KSC penalty area, and our Bosnian midfielder curled a 15-metre shot into the German goal (1-0). Towards the end of the first quarter of an hour, we saw another Fradi chance. Traoré received a great ball from Boli, but his shot was saved by goalkeeper Weiss, who saved the second time.

Soon after, Tokmac and then Boli's shots were saved by Weiss. The first 15 minutes went our way. In the 16th minute, Boli curled a right-footed shot from 17 meters just wide of the left post. The 20th minute saw two long-range shots: first Heise received a ball in our penalty area and shot into the bottom right corner (1-1), then Traoré took a shot from 23 metres after the midfield and the ball found its way into the net (2-1).

In the 33rd minute, Dibusz had to save a long-range German shot with a superb diving save. On the other side, Boli fooled two defenders with a superb flick, but he missed with a right-footed spike from 14 metres. The two-goal lead was not long in coming: in the 37th minute, Traoré passed into the middle and Loncar fired into the net from 14 metres out, the ball touching the goalkeeper (3-1).

The rain was getting heavier towards the end of the half, which did not help the teams. Dibusz made a brilliant save at the end of the half, putting a 12-metre shot wide from a corner, then another big save from the goalkeeper from the free kick, and Aissa Laidouni fired a 16-metre shot over the top bar on the counter-attack. The first half was clearly Fradi's.

Second half

For the second half, manager Cherchesov sent on Esiti, Botka and Auzqui for Vécsei, Wingo and Traoré, and a few minutes later Zachariassen came on for the double for Loncar. There was no great excitement in the first minutes of the second half. In the 57th minute, Civic's corner was slipped out of the path of the onrushing Zachariassen.

After an hour, Marquinhos and Bassey were on the pitch for our team, replacing Boli and Tokmac. In addition, they were able to play on a rain-free pitch for the last half hour. Bassey scored from almost the first opportunity. In the 67th minute, the Nigerian striker received a great ball inside the KSC penalty area and curled a 13-metre effort from the right into the bottom left corner (4-1).

Today has also been the first appearance of our recently signed Danish defender Rasmus Thelander in a Fradi shirt. In the 72nd minute, Civic's corner was headed in by Kovacevic for another goal but Weiss saved well. For the last ten minutes Oleksandr Zubkov came on as a substitute, replacing Auzqui. In the 82nd minute of the second half, Dibusz almost had to make his first save of the period, but there was no great situation this time either, grabbing a low, weak cross.

Zubkov didn't last long, limping to the dressing room injured after a collision in the 84th minute. In the injury time, we were able to practice the man's down situation. No more goals were scored.
Our team won three of their five training matches in Austria (8-0 against Carda Martjanci, 3-0 against Ludogorets, 4-1 against Karlsruher), drew one (1-1 Shkendija) and lost once (0-3 Sepsi OSK).

Our next match will be an away Champions League qualifier against Tobol on Wednesday 6 July, for which ticket sales started today.