In the second match at the training camp in Austria, Sparta’s football players lost 0:1 against home team Wolfsberger. The Prague team suffered their first defeat under the new Danish coach Brian Prisk in the summer training.
“It was a good test for us. Of course nobody likes to lose, so the defeat annoys us,” admitted Priske.
“We have to learn a lesson from the match. Above all, what concerns the attacking phase. There I saw many aspects in which we have to improve,” the Letenský coach was angry.
“But the most important thing today was a larger portion of physical load for those who didn’t play much last time,” he added.
The fourth team of last year’s Austrian league decided in the 44th minute from a standard situation. Kerschbaumer crossed into the box, Leitgeb broke away from Vindheim and headed the Spartan goalkeeper Vorl.
The guests couldn’t equalise, even a mass substitution after an hour of play didn’t help, when summer offensive reinforcement Kuchta also got on the field.
“Obviously, we could have done a lot of things differently in the first half, especially when we were on the ball. We knew the strengths of the opponent – that they are good in pressing, in one-on-one situations. They also handled the wind successfully in the first half, which was also important. But it was our second game in four days and it was clear that we lacked a little energy,” Priske looked for extenuating circumstances.
Letenští did not follow up on their previous wins over second division opponents Dukla (2:1) and Opava (3:0) and the Croatian Rijeka (2:0). At the end of the Austrian training camp, they will challenge the Hungarian team Paksi on Wednesday.
Sparta will start the new competitive season on July 21 at home with the opening match of the 2nd preliminary round of the European Conference League against the Norwegian Viking Stavanger.
The players will have a rest day on Sunday. “Hopefully, they will gain enough strength for the following days and also for Wednesday’s match against Paksi. It will be important for us to put all the remaining pieces of the mosaic together so that next Thursday against Viking everything will be almost flawless,” added the 45-year-old Danish coach.
Preparatory football match in Wolfsberg (Austria):
Wolfsberger – Sparta Prague 1:0 (1:0)
Branka: 44th main building.
Sparta lineup: Vorel (46. Heča) – Vindheim (60. Höjer), Oydra (60. Zelený), Večerka (46. Vitík), Horák (60. Mejdr) – Souček (60. Sadílek), Fortelný (46. Sáček ) – Ryneš (60. Pešek), Karabec (60. Daněk), Minčev (60. Wiesner) – Juliš (60. Kuchta). Coach: Priske.
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