Due to my recent wedding, honeymoon and work schedule (Wednesday night games are always a bugger for an English teacher), it’s been a while since I’ve been to see the boys in piros-kék (that’s red and blue to all you non-Magyars).
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Last year I found myself holding two human skulls. The people they were formerly attached to had died from the plague, and I had to identify who was who in order to save another life. I worked quickly; measuring jawbones, assessing facial features and trying not to think about the incessant tick of the clock. I was running out of time…
Workrate can be deceiving in football. A player can bustle around for 90 minutes with plenty of the ball and yet hold back his team through lack of intent. When players start to think that running around, making sideways passes and looking busy are the same as having purpose, teams get into trouble. Yes, the manager can’t fault the workrate, but matches aren’t won with directionless effort.
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The nearly-completed Illovszky Rudolf Stadion – future home of Vasas FC.
Due to an improbable series of events, I ended up being interviewed on Hungarian national media for creating an Instagram account about statues (@statuesofbudapest – should you be curious). The topic of the interview turned to football and I mentioned how I’d come to support Vasas since arriving in Budapest (namely – I like underdogs and the shared ironworking history of Vasas and Middlesbrough).
Continue readingWith no league win in six and a managerial firing, I have to say I wasn’t expecting much from the home team in this one. Ceglédi lay just a place and a few points below Vasas and had won two of their last three. They also have a kit that demostrates what an Ikea international team would wear. Surely they saw a chance to take a big scalp against a side lacking confidence and in freefall down the league table.
So the Károly Kis reign of terror at Vasas FC ends after just a few months, the doughty veteran has been given the boot after proving unequal to the tasks of:
A) motivating his players past the 45 minute mark,
B) holding on to any sort of lead,
and C) beating teams whose home crowds are slightly sparser than a Katie Hopkins dinner party.
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One of the unfair things about dipping into a team’s story is that you don’t get the whole sense of things. Take Tamás Vaskó for example. I’d never really given him a second thought before this season. I now know he was a Vasas youth product and played for Bristol City for a bit. I know also that he’s the definition of a journeyman (12 clubs in his career, barely time to paint the bathroom). I know that he has one of those slicked-back mohican hairdos that immediately unravel into a wet duck’s arse on the football pitch. I know that he’s a committed tackler and seems to be one of the few players who’s consistently given his all this season for the team…
Continue readingThe stop-start nature of Vasas’ season continues since my last blog entry. A couple of wins, a couple of draws and a continuing tendency to throw games away means Vasas remain stuck in sixth place in the NBii. They’re also more than a clear win behind Zalaegerszeg and Gyor in the two promotion places.
Continue readingAs there’s no home game this week (and I’m in the UK), I was looking for something else to post, and came across this gem of a short read from Beyond The Last Man, an engrossing blog on all things 20th century football. Everything below the line is directly from this wonderful blog post by Craig McCracken.
Continue readingAlthough I was only planning to go to Vasas’ home games this year, there are a few local away games coming up and I couldn’t resist the chance to jump on the tram – metro – bus combo that leads to Budafok in the south-west of Budapest.
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Sub Story 