Know your opponent: Viktoria Plzen

This coming Tuesday, Maccabi Tel Aviv will face Viktoria Plzen at Bloomfield Stadium in the first-leg of the UEFA Champions League third round qualifying matches

Prior to Plzen's arrival in Israel, The Sports Rabbi Josh Halickman spoke to three reporters who intimately cover the Czech League and gave a rundown about what to expect from the League Champions.

Jan Vacek a reporter for Denik Sport, iSport.cz will accompany Viktoria Plzen to Israel for the match on Tuesday and thinks that Plzen is going to be a very tough opponent for the Yellow-and-Blue: "Viktoria Plzen is the best team in the Czech Republic and not only did they win the league but they won the Super Cup as well. They have some of the top Czech players and also happens to be the best team that chairman Adolf Sadek has ever assembled.

The club has many young players who have been together for a number of years and they also have a very experienced midfielder in Daniel Kolar who is a fantastic playmaker, with great skills and vision and is the heart and soul of the club. Plzen plays a 4-2-3-1 with five midfielders and will play with one striker who will most probably be Bosnian Aidin Mahmutovic with Jan Holenda coming off of the bench."

Ian Hunt, an Englishman living in Prague attended 127 matches last season spread over the various divisions and leagues and feels that the key this year will perhaps be hardline coach Miroslav Koubek: "The manager is not afraid to drop players if they aren't performing and always makes sure to have proper backups as replacements. He's very astute and has been a veteran coach in the league for many, many years."

Chris Boothroyd who runs the CZEFOOTBALL.COM website took a step back to former coach Pavel Vrba, who is the current Czech National Team boss and the architect of Viktoria Plzen between 2008-2013: "Vrba took a mid-table side and turned them into a contender by bringing in players who had been underutilized at other clubs. He is a very forward thinking coach and his philosophy is similar to that of Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Because of that, Plzen now plays very attractive and modern football. Vrba felt that the league had been stagnating tactically and he brought something different to the table. Once money from advancing in European competitions began coming in, the ball just kept on rolling from there."

Though the side doesn't feature any stars, there are a number of players to watch out for, says Hunt: "The team's best defense is their offense as they have two fantastic backs with left back David Limbersky and right back Roman Rajtoral. They can cross extremely well, defend when called upon and they are a threat from both sides of the pitch." Boothroyd concurred and also added that: "Jan Kopic who came over from third place side Jablonec will be the number 10 and one to watch out for."

However, there are positions that will be vulnerable to a Maccabi Tel Aviv attack explains Hunt: "Central defenders Vaclav Prochazka and Roman Hubrik are good, but suspect as they can be beaten. Plzen may concede some goals but they will score too. If the strikers Mahmutovic and Holenda can't get service from the backs and midfielders then they will have problems scoring on their own." 

Another factor that Hunt feels will help Plzen is that they will be hosting the second-leg at home in Doosan Arena: "The stadium seats 12,000 and it will be loud, raucous and intimidating for the visiting side, but by no means unpleasant. There won't be fan trouble but there will be a lot of noise and displays by the Plzen Boys to help the team as the 12th man."

Expectations are high for Viktoria Plzen to advance to the group stages this season after being knocked out of Europe last year and Hunt feels we are about to witness two great matches: "This is a fascinating tie. The games will be good and close between two excellent teams with no heavy favorite. Plzen has a certain confidence, but they are not arrogant. They are confident from previous performances and how Koubek has the team working together. But by no means will this be easy."