For the first time in almost a decade, Vladimír Coufal will play for a club with a coach who is neither Jindřich Trpišovský nor David Moyes.
The foreign right-back for West Ham United in the Czech Republic played against his compatriot Trpišovský in two clubs, Slovan Liberec and Slavia Prague, between June 2015 and October 2020, winning 3 Czech First League titles, the Czech Cup and the Czech Super Cup.
He was signed through Moyes and joined the Hammers, where he established himself as a fan favourite for his fair and heartfelt performances, assists and influential role in helping West Ham triumph in Europe and UEFA Europa Conference League glory. . Formation
Now, however, Coufal is starting his life with a new head coach, Julen Lopetegui, and the 31-year-old says he feels he is starting over.
“Time flies!” He smiled. ” Another season has arrived and we are preparing here in Florida. It’s very smart to see the kids again, have conversations with them and with the staff. We have a new coach and his team, so we have to get used to everything and I’m excited about the new season.
“I had the same coach at Slavia and all my time at West Ham until now. However, we also replaced the national team coach recently and now, obviously, after 4 seasons at West Ham, we have replaced ourselves, so it’s like coming to a new club and, with a new staff and new players, I feel somehow like a new player here.
Coufal has spoken of his preference for playing fearless football, urgent up front, keeping the ball, assuming danger in attack and protecting aggressively. After hearing Lopetegui’s vision of joining the team in Florida, the number five believes his new head coach’s philosophy is strongly aligned with his own.
“We have a new taste and I hope we can do well with the new coach,” he said. “It’s only my third day here and from the sessions I can see that it’s very intense, the coach needs to play very high. He needs to press and be on the ball most of the time, so it’s for the best and I hope the guys enjoy it as well as I do.
“I like to press high, I like to do everything as a positive person, and that is precisely what suits me and I will do it, so we can call it a new taste of football and we can see a new West Ham. “
Coufal feels refreshed after a welcome break from his family, spending a week in his local village of Ludgeřovice in the east of the Czech Republic, meeting his parents, laughing with his wife and children and fishing for carp at a local restaurant. lake. He and his wife Hana also spent time in Prague, while the couple took their two children to the Greek islands.
“We went to Crete and it was perfect! »She smiled. “The sea, beach and pool were lovely and spending time with my wife and children was amazing. I must say that every year it is more difficult to return to the educational camp because the young people cry. They’re getting older now and understand how long I’ll be gone, so it’s never easy to say “goodbye. “
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“We also spent two weeks at home, adding one with my parents at my birthplace, so it was the best thing because we live in a small town and everyone knows me there. We have peace and quiet and a beautiful forest within two minutes for walking and ponds, so every night I took some rods and went fishing for 3 or 4 hours. I’ve caught carp, but I let them go back into the water. It was the best so we extended our stay there and my parents were very happy.
“We left the kids there for a few days with my parents and Hana and I had some time for ourselves in Prague, which was also perfect, so I enjoyed it.
“We talked about the family, the children, their functionality at school in London and also about life in the Czech Republic. It’s nice to have a vacation and turn off the phone!
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For Coufal, the break was incredibly to clear his head after a disappointing end to the domestic season and then missing out on reaching the UEFA Euro 2024 round of 16 with his national team.
“Obviously we didn’t get promotion to European football with West Ham and then we had a failed European Championship with the Czech Republic, so I just needed to get football out of my head and be with my family circle and talk about general things. So I was grateful that they helped me do that,” he explained.
But now, Coufal is in a position to concentrate on football and is enjoying his first stop in the United States, where West Ham will play two United States Cup matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Crystal Palace in the cities of Jacksonville and Florida. Tampa. the next two Saturday nights.
Both matches will be available to watch internationally on West Ham TV via whufc. com and our official mobile app, with passes available for either match now!Alternatively, if you’re in the US, come see West Ham live and in person!Tickets for any of the matches are now on sale HERE.
“To be honest, the flight was very long, but I felt a little excitement because you see America in the videos and you see that everything is imaginable here, because it is the land of unlimited functions!” He smiled.
“I need to go from fishing and catching anything big in the sea, that would be perfect!So I would like to go to an NBA or NFL game and eat a hamburger or a hot dog there, the seasons have not yet started. . But we play in either NFL stadium, so it’s going to have to be enough!
“We want to work hard to return to Europe next season. I was really disappointed that we missed out on European football this season, so we want to meet our criteria and be more consistent.
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