Today’s duel of the 29th round of the first league between Teplice and Mlada Boleslaví offered an unusual and emotional conclusion. After a red card for home goalkeeper Tomáš Grigar, Egyptian striker Muhammad Jásir had to score in the end, as the North Bohemians could no longer substitute. The Teplice captain left the field after kicking Vasil Kušej, who considers Grigar’s reaction to be a complete short circuit.
“I ran past Grigar and he normally kicked me across the legs. There was probably more emotion than there should have been. This doesn’t belong in football at all, especially from such an experienced goalkeeper. It’s a total abomination,” Kušej told journalists after the match.
The situation arose in the 89th minute after David Šimek’s goal, which the Central Bohemians equalized after Matěj Hybš converted a penalty from the beginning of the match. However, it is evident from repeated footage that Kušej provoked the Teplice goalkeeper with a clenched fist.
“Tomáš misjudged the situation before the goal and was overpowered. After the goal, Kušej made a gesture to him and Tomas didn’t control his emotions,” Teplice coach Zdenko Frťala offered his view. “Red is clear. We’ll see what kind of punishment he gets, maybe the disciplinary officer will also take the behavior of the opponent into account,” added the Slovakian coach, who took over the team in March after Jiří Jarošík was fired.
However, Kušej does not think that he behaved abnormally. “I was happy about the goal, I was running around them and suddenly he kicked me across the legs. This is not normal. It was a total short-circuit, he should not have done this. Moreover, at a stage when Teplice need every point and every experienced player,” he pointed out a member of the under-21 national team who played for Ústí nad Labem, Dresden or Prostějov in the past.
“He kicked all of us, he went hard in all the fights even without the ball. But the referee is there since then, we should have reacted and massaged him a little somewhere in the middle,” said Lukáš Mareček from Teplice in Kušej’s address.
“The expulsion is a great pity, Kušej should have been sent off calmly for the price of a yellow card during the match, and not this stupidly. He provoked and Tomas could not contain his emotions,” added the thirty-three-year-old midfielder.
Teplice already used the third substitution window in the 87th minute, so they could not make another change in the line-up. Jásir stood in the goal, but the visiting shooters did not check the 21-year-old Egyptian. The tall striker only had to deal with two high balls, which he managed.
“We were looking to see if any of the players would sign up themselves. Jásir indicated to us that he would go for it, so he took the gloves. He kept zero, especially the second ball, and the fight with Škoda was not easy,” said Frťala.
“It’s a shame that we didn’t at least try a shot, I only had one blocked. Maybe it would have been a goal if it had gone through,” lamented Kušeje, whose team lost the chance to advance to the group for the title and will remain in the middle group for placement. In the same way, the thirteenth Teplice won’t move anymore and after Sunday’s last round, the superstructure group is waiting for them to save them.
