“Lessons from the Past: Can Sparta Hold onto Their League Lead?”

21 years ago, the North Bohemians led the league by even six points three rounds before the end, yet in the last round they were shaking for their first ever title until the last minute. “Although I also think that Sparta will probably win the title, but with my experience I wouldn’t put my hand in the fire just yet. It’s not such a simple situation again,” admits Miroslav Holeňák, the current coach of the second division Varnsdorf.

“Sparta is still playing with the inscrutable Bohemka, who can take her down at some point. Then they have a tough match in Slovakia, where they traditionally do not do well. And it ends with Pilsen, which is our toughest opponent after Slavia. I really think that if Slavia manage the last three games, they still have hope. And as they say, when you have hope, you have everything,” emphasizes Holeňák, who won gold with Slovan in the 2001/2002 season, even though he had a rough time with his teammates.

do you remember When Liberec beat Ostrava in the 27th round, their lead at the top of the table swelled to six points. Sparta definitely cried. Only Žižkov could depose him. And at Nisa, they already solved the championship rings, which, to the horror of coaches Ladislav Škorpil and Josef Csaplár, had Tomáš Janů make them prematurely…

But in the rest of the league, Liberec only scored a single point out of a possible nine. When he lost in Teplice in the 28th round and the second Žižkov triumphed in Drnovice, the lead was reduced to three points. Then Štajner et al. in front of a packed U Nisa stadium, they only drew with Brno, while Viktoria beat Jablonec. The lead was reduced to just one point before the end of the lap. In the end, Škorpil’s team also lost in the final round in Ďolíček 1:2. Nevertheless, he celebrated his luck, because Žižkov also fell 0:1 in Strahov with Slavia with a goal by Pavel Kuka in the 86th minute. Without him, the team from Prague would have finished first thanks to better matches.

“More factors came into play then. First of all, the lineup began to fall apart. For example, I sprained my ankle on the international tour and didn’t play three matches. I didn’t start until the last round, where I “famously” scored a goal for Radek Šírl… Jirka Štajner was also not 100 percent. Moreover, someone couldn’t play because of the cards. We fell out of the comfort we were used to,” Holeňák remembers. By the way, Letenští have Minčev and Pavelka under disciplinary threat, who have been reprimanded seven times, and Daněk, Haraslín, Kairinen, Kuchta, Mejdr, Vitík, Vydra collected three yellow cards.

“And in addition, the head worked for us. Liberec had never won the title before and that burden really fell on us. We thought that everything would go by itself, that we would somehow finish the league. One match went wrong and suddenly we realized it might not work out. And it was impossible, impossible and impossible to return to the winning wave again,” he smiles today, remembering the impending embarrassment.

What would Holeňák advise Sparta with his experience? “He still has to switch to the mode that he still has to. They can’t say it’s over, they have to continue with the setup they’re in. Which is easy to say, but it’s not that simple,” concludes Holeňák.