Update: 05/05/2024 20:28
Issued by: 05/05/2024, 20:28
Uherské Hradiště – Sparta Prague’s football players won the opening round of the football league extension in the group for the title in Slovácko 4:2. The defending champion responded to Saturday’s 5-0 win over city rivals Slavia nad Ostrava and has a four-point lead at the top of the table before the derby in the next round.
Jan Kuchta decided the Letenské win with two goals in the first half, Lukáš Haraslín responded to Kim Sung-pin’s contact shot after the break. Vlastimil Daníček dramatized the duel with a converted penalty, but Ladislav Krejčí also had the last word in the setup with a penalty kick.
“Sparta deservedly won, but we made it terribly easy for them with our mistakes, which illustrate our bad spring,” said Slovácko coach Martin Svědík at the press conference, who will leave the team after the season. “This is the best Sparta I have experienced in my career,” praised home captain Daníček.
“We gave a good and concentrated performance here, but I don’t think we are any closer to the title. We are still as far away from it,” said Sparta’s Danish coach Brian Priske.
His men have lost only one of their last 18 league matches and have scored seven rounds in a row, winning six of them. They won the eighth of the last nine league games away from home and with 38 points they are the best team of the year there. On the contrary, the team from Uherské Hradiště did not win at home in the spring part of the league even on the sixth attempt and lost on the fifth. Slovácko has not won eight rounds in a row and 11 of the past 12.
At the beginning of the match, the guests easily repelled several crosses after the home players’ quick attacks and then took the initiative. In the seventh minute, Birmančević shot hard and the ball bounced to Haraslín, who fired just wide.
Sparta proved its game confidence in the 12th minute. Kim Sung-pin’s blocked shot from the edge of his own penalty area was sent by Birmančević to the onrushing Kuchta, who lobbed Fryšták solo across the middle of the pitch into the leading goal for the reigning champions.
In the next 12 minutes, the former Slovácko player added his thirteenth hit in the league season from a very similar situation, when Wiesner sent him for the defense of Slovácko and the visiting striker again coolly dealt with the running Fryšták. “Kuchta proved his master class, not only with his goals, but with his overall concept of the game, he also helped the defense a lot,” praised Priske.
Sparta dominated the duel for half an hour, controlled the middle of the field, collected rebounds and only sporadically allowed Slovácko into range. Nevertheless, the home team got a contact goal. After the action of Havlík, the ball passed through Holzer to the fast and agile Kim Sung-pin, who rippled the net along the running Vindahl. The 23-year-old Korean scored among the scorers in the second round in a row.
The end of the first half and the beginning of the second belonged to Sparta again. In the 48th minute, referee Rouček ordered a penalty kick for Reinberk’s hand in the penalty area. However, after the intervention of the video referee Klíma, he called it off due to the previous offside.
The Prague team tried to keep the ball under their own control as much as possible and thus eliminate the attacking efforts of Slovácko. And after an hour of play they struck for the third time. Substitute Laci caught Hofmann’s indistinct pass, who found Haraslín, and the Slovak offensive midfielder restored his team’s two-goal lead with his twelfth strike of the league season.
However, this did not mean peace until the end of the match for Sparta. Juroška broke into the penalty area on the left side and his cross hit the hand of the falling Kairinen. The ordered penalty was converted by Daníček, who thus converted the nineteenth penalty kick in the top competition and maintained a 100% record. He scored the fourth goal in the league year. “This was our best passage in the match,” declared Svědík.
In the next period, Haraslín hit the post, Wiesner again shot weakly at Fryšták, but in the end Letenští had to defend themselves from the home team’s attempt to equalize. Sparta’s win was confirmed in the setup by captain Krejčí from a penalty kick for a foul by goalkeeper Fryšták on substitute Olatunji. The Czech representative scored the eighth goal in the year of the top competition.
Letenští beat the team from Uherské Hradiště for the third time in the league season with a total score of 12:3. With 74 goals, they have the best attack in the league, scoring 15 goals in the last four rounds.
Coaches’ votes after the game:
Martin Svědík (Slovakia): “Sparta deservedly won, but we made it terribly easy for them with our mistakes, which highlight our bad spring. This also applies to the first two goals from Kuchta’s kick. The first one was scored after our lost attack car, the second one after a misunderstanding and indiscipline of some players. Both goals could have been avoided. But Sparta has a lot of quality and it’s difficult to play with them. We increased our activity, but we lacked more aggressiveness, we lost a lot of balls. And the third goal in ours the net crowned it. We played our best passage after the penalty, there were chances, but we didn’t hit the goal, so we couldn’t think about the point.”
Brian Priske (Sparta): “We showed a good and concentrated performance against Slovácko. In the first half, Honzo Kucht shone with two goals, he gave an excellent performance and proved his master class. the substitutes joined and we kept the win. I didn’t see the whole Slavia match, I was concentrating on my team. I don’t think we are any closer to the title, there are still four matches left and we are as far away from the championship as before this match.”
1. FC Slovácko – Sparta Prague 2:4 (1:2)
Goals: 33. Kim Sung-pin, 72. Daníček z pen. – 12. and 24. Kuchta, 63. Haraslín, 90.+5 Krejčí z pen. Referee: Rouček – Vlček, Hurych – Klíma (video). ŽK: Reinberk, Vecheta, Mihálik, Petržela – Karabec, Wiesner. Viewers: 7455.
Assemblies:
Slovakia: Fryšták – Reinberk (68. Sinjavskij), Daníček, Hofmann – Kim Sung-pin, Havlík, Kohút (68. Mihálik), Holzer – Blahút (82. Paržela), Vecheta (68. Kvasina), Juroška (78. Cicilia). Coach: Witness.
Sparta: Vindahl – Sörensen, Panák, Krejčí – Wiesner, Kairinen, Sadílek (61. Laci), Ryneš (82. Zelený) – Birmančevič (76. Karabec), Haraslín (82. Tuci) – Kuchta (76. Olatunji). Coach: Priske.
