Chorý unlikely to play for Slavia Prague after new outburst

Slavia Prague striker Chorý, after a fresh incident on Saturday, is unlikely ever to take the field for the club again, according to one sports columnist. Coach Trpišovský has already announced that he will leave the forward at home and not take him to Tuesday’s Champions League match against Fenerbahçe in Istanbul.

The club has said nothing concrete about the player’s future so far. “We’ll see what happens next,” was all Trpišovský would say. After the May derby with Sparta, which was abandoned when fans ran onto the pitch, Slavia is in no hurry to make decisions in the heat of the moment: many hasty statements and measures were reversed back then, and it looked strange.

Trust he failed to repay

Now the club’s management, including owner Pavel Tikač, must assess the latest flare-up, and it will be hard to find mitigating circumstances for the six-foot-six striker. Chorý let down Tikač, Trpišovský and his teammates — everyone who stood up for him after his sending-off in May.

He received his third red card in a single season then: he elbowed Asger Sørensen in the face. Earlier, at the start of last season, he had weakened his team by kicking Slovácko goalkeeper Milan Heča in the groin. There was also a red card in the spring for allegedly spitting at Plzeň defender Sampson Dweh; the club insisted at the time that the saliva simply flew out by accident while he was arguing with his opponent.

After the attack on Sørensen, Chorý lost the support of club chairman Jaroslav Tvrdík, who immediately suspended him from the team along with David Douděra, against the backdrop of the abandoned derby and lapses that went as far as Jan Bořil’s antics after his sending-off in the match in Hradec Králové. But his teammates, Trpišovský and Tikač wanted to see the striker in the squad, and he was brought back. Everyone believed he would learn his lesson. They were wrong: his behavior on Saturday, to put it bluntly, was a betrayal.

What lies ahead for the player and the club

Chorý knows about his reputation. He understands that referees watch his every move, that his actions are judged more harshly than other players’, and that many are waiting for the next meltdown. And still he lost control: he provokes, and gives the referee a reason to send him off. The disciplinary committee will probably take the repeat offense into account, and the punishment could be a long one.

In the summer Slavia turned down a generous offer from Plzeň, who wanted their former player back: he was too important for the “red-and-whites’” style of play. He made a major contribution to the team winning two championship titles in a row, and the reliance on him was almost unhealthy, which may have told in European competition, where his limits showed.

Now, however, it is hard to imagine this forward playing for Slavia again. He is most likely not going to win back the lost trust. Whether this will be a chance for Plzeň or Viktoria will not want a player with so many stories is hard to predict. The first decision is Slavia’s, and it is not hard to guess where this story is heading.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz