Slavia Prague defender Isife slammed for blunder vs Mladá Boleslav

Isife, the right-back of Prague’s Slavia, made a baffling mistake in the match against Mladá Boleslav: after he swung and missed the ball, the opposition was left with an open goal. Pundits on the Oneplay Sport channel criticized the player immediately, while the Slavia coach was more cautious in his assessment.

It is not just that Isife missed the ball — such errors happen. In the pundits’ view, he made an even worse mistake at the very start of the move.

How the move unfolded

Lukáš Provod lost the ball in midfield, Jiří Klíma of Mladá Boleslav didn’t hesitate and sent the quick Solomon John clear. Normally John would have been offside: Tomáš Holeš, the other center-back Anže Ngessan and left-back Oskar Kubiak were standing in a line, as the unwritten rules of defensive organization dictate. But Isife was several meters behind them and kept John onside.

“He completely slept through that moment. It wasn’t even close. Holeš couldn’t have known that Isife was so far back. Incomprehensible. And then Isife also fails to clear the ball properly,” said Oneplay Sport pundit Antonín Rosa, shaking his head.

Isife could still have defused the situation: John’s cross came right onto his left foot. But when he tried to clear it, he missed the ball altogether, and it fell to Mladá Boleslav’s Martin Šubert, who had an empty net in front of him. The error recalls the one Moses made in Baku — incidentally, he came on in the second half against Mladá Boleslav, played fantastically and set up the moment before the equalizer with an accurate cross.

“The ball isn’t that fast or that difficult that you can’t hit it. But it happens. What about the start of the move, though, where he was ten meters behind Holeš? A meter or two happens. Here he completely fell asleep, and the whole goal comes from that,” added former player Václav Kadlec, who was working in the studio.

What Trpišovský said

Slavia head coach Trpišovský judged his player’s mistake far more calmly. “Isife’s positioning was poor, and he didn’t notice Solomon’s offside. That’s the first mistake. Then he panicked — an inexplicable short circuit. Yet against Fenerbahçe he calmly let a similar, and high, ball go out for a throw-in. A goal given away for free,” the coach lamented.

A few minutes later Isife created a great chance for Viktor Nowak with a run and a cross, but the Polish midfielder shot over the bar. Isife did not come out for the second half; he was replaced by Mubarak Suleiman. In the second half Slavia pinned their opponent back and equalized thanks to a goal from Mojmír Chytil.

At the press conference Trpišovský said he has generally not liked his team’s right side lately. “It doesn’t play the way it did in past seasons. In terms of organizing attacks, it is currently our weakest side, although it used to be the dominant one,” the Slavia coach admitted.

Isife has so far failed to replace David Douděra, who left Slavia after the events of the spring derby and now plays for the American club Cincinnati in MLS. Sometimes Suleiman, who is more of a midfielder by trade, plays there instead. “He is a different type of player, and he has stronger positions,” Trpišovský understands that Suleiman would probably be better off in another role.

At the start of the season the trust on the right flank of defense also went to 20-year-old club academy product Eliáš Pitak, who recently extended his contract with Slavia until 2031. At the moment, however, he is unavailable to Trpišovský due to health problems.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz