Coufal’s reality Czech at how far he’s come
Vladimir coufal has taken the long, hard route to the very top of football.
rejected as a teenager by local club Banik ostrava, the heartbroken czech defender ended up plying his trade in the country’s lower leagues.
and earning no more than a pint and a bite to eat for his troubles.
little wonder, then, that he will never forget those nightmare days when his aspirations in the game looked dead.
The hammers right-back, 29, said: “it’s still inside of me, the feeling. They didn’t give me a chance because i
wasn’t tall enough, strong enough. But i was only a 15-year-old kid.
“at 16, 17, i played in the third-lowest division in czech republic. i played for sausages and beers.
“Banik sent me to play with 40-year-old men, just to make a drink after work. it was unbelievable.
“When they offered to bring me back, i wouldn’t go.”
coufal’s story has parallels with england and hammers star declan rice who was dumped by chelsea as a youngster before heading to east london.
Yet only to a degree, claimed coufal, ahead of this afternoon’s trip to face Thomas Tuchel’s Blues.
“he was at a really strong chelsea. i was at a strong Banik! There’s a big difference,” added the former slavia Prague star, who has 26 caps. “it
HARRY PRATT
can happen to everyone but my way was difficult.
“so, now when i’m here, it feels…nice.”
even more so given that earlier this season coufal could not even get out of the bath because of a back injury that required surgery.
he is delighted to have returned in time to play his part in the club’s europa league semi-final against eintracht frankfurt.
admitting that his desperation to play in pain made things worse, coufal said: “i already had a problem at the euros and after the first game of the season i had pain again but i didn’t want to make any excuses about my performances.
“it was my decision to play with pain. But after the leicester game, i couldn’t train and play again.
“i couldn’t get out of the bath without my wife helping.
“We decided with the medical team for surgery and i was able to play again after five weeks.”
The first leg of the frankfurt tie is at the london stadium on Thursday – and nobody needs tell coufal what it would mean for the irons to reach the final.
“frankfurt will be historical for West ham,” he said.
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