West Ham’s Tomas Soucek: First Option When I was Born was to Play Football

Tomas Soucek has made a real impact at West Ham since joining in January. (Getty Images)
Tomas Soucek has made a real impact at West Ham since joining in January. (Getty Images)
TT

West Ham’s Tomas Soucek: First Option When I was Born was to Play Football

Tomas Soucek has made a real impact at West Ham since joining in January. (Getty Images)
Tomas Soucek has made a real impact at West Ham since joining in January. (Getty Images)

Sometimes people noticed the tall figure going through his training drills with help from his wife and young daughter. London had gone into lockdown and Tomas Soucek, who had joined West Ham at the end of January, needed to find somewhere to stay fit as he adjusted to a new reality in an unfamiliar city. “We went to Hackney Marshes, where there are 50 pitches in one place,” Soucek says. “It was incredible.”

The West Ham midfielder smiles. Lockdown brought challenges for everyone, forcing adjustments to the usual routine. For Soucek, the task was to be ready for whenever the Premier League season resumed. He did not mind being out in public. If people realized who he was, they waved. And if they happened to support West Ham, it was a chance to greet their new signing by putting their arms over their chest to make a crossed hammers sign, the club’s symbol.

Soucek had given West Ham hope in their battle against relegation after joining on loan from Slavia Prague. Tall, physical and good on the ball, he enhanced their presence in midfield, forming an effective relationship with Declan Rice.

The Czech Republic international had been preparing, starting English lessons six months before the transfer, and was determined not to grow stale when Covid-19 forced the season to be suspended. His wife, Natalie, is a keen runner and wanted to help him train, so they went to Hackney Marshes with their daughter, Tereza, who is 20 months old.

“I took a ball and some cones and I did normal training, but individually,” Soucek says. “My wife was sometimes giving me the ball and helped me enjoy it. Sometimes I enjoyed it with my daughter and her. It was a good time. I heard all about the tradition for playing Sunday League football there, though there was nothing like that during these times. At that time there were only a few five-a-side teams using it.”

Soucek did not mind using a space usually associated with amateur football. He was brought up in Havlickuv Brod, a town with a population of 23,000 people, and comes from a sporting family. “My dad took me to my first football training because he was the coach,” the 25-year-old says. “He was a footballer as well, a goalkeeper. My mother played handball, my aunt played football. The first option when I was born was to play football. Everywhere I went I would ask my family if I could take the ball with me.”

Soucek’s mother, Iva, was a major influence. “For the last 15 years she has been running half-marathons and marathons and sometimes when I was younger, I went with her to the forest,” he says. “I’m a footballer and I don’t like too much space without intensity but sometimes when I was in pre-season I would go with her to run in the forest. I think I got my stamina from her. She was brilliant. I think she won the park marathon.”

Soucek, who may consider a marathon after retiring, needed support from his family after joining Slavia at the age of 10. The journey from Havlickuv Brod to Prague was long. Sacrifices were required and Soucek was determined to repay his family’s faith. He worked hard, establishing himself in Slavia’s first team, helping them win league titles in 2017 and 2019, impressing against Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Internazionale in the Champions League last season.

His talent was clear when he helped the Czech Republic defeat England in a Euro 2020 qualifier last year. David Moyes had watched Soucek and moved for him after being appointed as West Ham’s manager last December.

Soucek’s height – he is 6ft 4in – and threat in the air inevitably drew comparisons to Marouane Fellaini, who played for Moyes at Everton and Manchester United. “David has found in Soucek his new Fellaini,” José Mourinho said after West Ham’s dramatic 3-3 draw with Tottenham last weekend. Soucek smiles again. “I take these words very positive because I know what a player he was,” he says.

“I was maybe one of the tallest from nursery but from even when I was younger I told myself I wanted to cover every square of the pitch. I wanted to help my guys in every situation so longer legs helped. It suits my style and prepared me for the way I play even now.”

Given freedom to roam by Rice, Soucek rampages forward from midfield, bursting into the penalty area and attacking crosses. He scored three times at the end of last season, helping West Ham stay up before joining permanently. Yet Soucek, who supported Arsenal because of the presence at the Emirates of the former Czech international Tomas Rosicky, is not a one-note player. He can play, too, and cites Yaya Touré as an inspiration.

Soucek, who has been instrumental in West Ham’s improvement, is a football fanatic. His bedroom walls at home were covered with posters of heroes such as Pavel Nedved and he loves swapping shirts with opponents. He got Olivier Giroud’s shirt after scoring against Chelsea for Slavia in the Europa League and says he plans to have “a small museum” of his collection in his parents’ house one day.

The Guardian Sport



Champions League Returns with Liverpool-Real Madrid and Bayern-PSG Rematches of Recent Finals

22 November 2024, Bavaria, Munich: Bayern Munich's Harry Kane (C) celebrates scoring his side's second goal with Leroy Sane, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and FC Augsburg at the Allianz Arena. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa
22 November 2024, Bavaria, Munich: Bayern Munich's Harry Kane (C) celebrates scoring his side's second goal with Leroy Sane, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and FC Augsburg at the Allianz Arena. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa
TT

Champions League Returns with Liverpool-Real Madrid and Bayern-PSG Rematches of Recent Finals

22 November 2024, Bavaria, Munich: Bayern Munich's Harry Kane (C) celebrates scoring his side's second goal with Leroy Sane, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and FC Augsburg at the Allianz Arena. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa
22 November 2024, Bavaria, Munich: Bayern Munich's Harry Kane (C) celebrates scoring his side's second goal with Leroy Sane, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and FC Augsburg at the Allianz Arena. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa

Real Madrid playing Liverpool in the Champions League has twice in recent years been a final between arguably the two best teams in the competition.

Their next meeting, however, finds two storied powers in starkly different positions at the midway point of the 36-team single league standings format. One is in first place and the other a lowly 18th.

It is not defending champion Madrid on top despite adding Kylian Mbappé to the roster that won a record-extending 15th European title in May.

Madrid has lost two of four games in the eight-round opening phase — and against teams that are far from challenging for domestic league titles: Lille and AC Milan.

Liverpool, which will host Wednesday's game, is eight points clear atop the Premier League under new coach Arne Slot and the only team to win all four Champions League games so far.

Still, the six-time European champion cannot completely forget losing the 2018 and 2022 finals when Madrid lifted its 13th and 14th titles. Madrid also won 5-2 at Anfield, despite trailing by two goals after 14 minutes, on its last visit to Anfield in February 2023.

The 2020 finalists also will be reunited this week, when Bayern Munich hosts Paris Saint-Germain in the stadium that will stage the next final on May 31.

Bayern’s home will rock to a 75,000-capacity crowd Tuesday, even though it is surprisingly a clash of 17th vs. 25th in the standings. Only the top 24 at the end of January advance to the knockout round.

No fans were allowed in the Lisbon stadium in August 2020 when Kingsley Coman scored against his former club PSG to settle the post-lockdown final in the COVID-19 pandemic season.

Man City in crisis

Manchester City at home to Feyenoord had looked like a routine win when fixtures were drawn in August, but it arrives with the 2023 champion on a stunning five-game losing run.

Such a streak was previously unthinkable for any team coached by Pep Guardiola, but it ensures extra attention Tuesday on Manchester.

City went unbeaten through its Champions League title season, and did not lose any of 10 games last season when it was dethroned by Real Madrid on a penalty shootout after two tied games in the quarterfinals.

City’s unbeaten run was stopped at 26 games three weeks ago in a 4-1 loss to Sporting Lisbon.

Sporting rebuilds That rout was a farewell to Sporting in the Champions League for coach Rúben Amorim after he finalized his move to Manchester United.

Second to Liverpool in the Champions League standings, Sporting will be coached by João Pereira taking charge of just his second top-tier game when Arsenal visits on Tuesday.

Sporting still has European soccer’s hottest striker Viktor Gyökeres, who is being pursued by a slew of clubs reportedly including Arsenal. Gyökeres has four hat tricks this season for Sporting and Sweden including against Man City.

Tough tests for overachievers

Brest is in its first-ever UEFA competition and Aston Villa last played with the elite in the 1982-83 European Cup as the defending champion.

Remarkably, fourth-place Brest is two spots above Barcelona in the standings — having beaten opponents from Austria and the Czech Republic — before going to the five-time European champion on Tuesday. Villa in eighth place is looking down on Juventus in 11th.

Juventus plays at Villa Park on Wednesday for the first time since March 1983 when a team with the storied Platini-Boniek-Rossi attack eliminated the title holder in the quarterfinals. Villa has beaten Bayern and Bologna at home with shutout wins.

Zeroes to heroes?

Five teams are still on zero points and might need to go unbeaten to stay in the competition beyond January. Eight points is the projected tally to finish 24th.

They include Leipzig, whose tough fixture program continues with a trip to Inter Milan, the champion of Italy.

Inter and Atalanta are yet to concede a goal after four rounds, and Bologna is the only team yet to score.

Atalanta plays at Young Boys, one of the teams without a point, on Tuesday and Bologna hosts Lille on Wednesday.