With just over 24 hours to go until we kick-off against FC Viktoria Plzeň in the FA Cup Quarter Final we chat with a few of the Raptors players about how they feel about the game...
Tereza Vytlačilová | Central Defender | Czech Republic:
“This Saturday's gonna be huge for the whole Raptors family. It’s a historical moment for us. Me and most of the girls haven’t played such an important game as the quarter final is. I am so excited about the weekend. I have been playing football here for 4 years and now I have a chance to play against the first league team again .. super cool.
We invited lots of people and I am sure that there will be an amazing atmosphere and loud cheering on us. We are going to leave everything what we have in the game. I am proud of my lovely team, thanks guys. See you all on Saturday at 17:30 in Zličín.”
Georgia Chaliamanta | Central Midfielder | Greece: “I feel super ready for our cup game against Plzen this weekend and I trust our team. It’s definitely going to be a hard game playing against a 1st division team, but I’m confident that we can bring a positive result as we’ve been training very hard on and off the pitch in the last 2 months.
Against Plzen, we need to be fully aware and adapt to the situations on the pitch. We have to stay in control from the start and try to attack as much as possible.
We had 2 very good friendly games in the last two weeks, which helped us find our rhythm as a team so that is also a confidence booster for the Cup Game.
This game is very important for all the girls and our coaches, because we are now in a place where we are competing against 1st league teams only, so we want to go as far as possible in this Cup, to show how strong our squad is and to make history in our club.
So now, it’s time to show up as our best selves...we are prepared in the best way, and we have to be spot on this weekend!.”
Gabriela Frolíkova | Goalkeeper | Czech Republic: “I'm really looking forward to the cup match. It is a great challenge for us. I'm looking forward to the atmosphere that will be during the match. A lot of people should come, whether the guys from the Raptors or family or friends. I hope that I and the team will be able to perform as well as possible.
Some may wonder why we take it so seriously. It's because we are very young club in comparison with the other clubs in the Czech Republic. And during our short existence, we managed to reach a very high level pretty much from nothing. No one has probably expected that.
Our greatest strength and the so-called 12th player is our teamwork. We have some very talented players in the team, but when we come together as a team and work together, we are able to achieve incredible performances. We have already shown one of them against Liberec. When Liberec was a better team, but our team spirit was stronger.
It would be a sensation for the team if we would get to another round. But let's not be ahead of ourselves. We'll see what Saturday's match brings.”
Stella Gandee Morgan | Central Midfielder | England: “I’m really looking forward to the game this weekend, it’s an opportunity to play against another top team and show that we deserve to be here. Obviously I’m nervous too because it’s such a big game for us but I’m already so proud of the team for getting to this stage because we’ve beaten some really tough competition to be here. It’s also such an important moment for us because reaching the quarter final has proved that we can compete at the highest level. Bring on Saturday🤪.”
Entry to the game on Saturday is free, but if you cannot make it down to the pitch then you can support via the YouTube livestream from 17:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fusQT5asVCk