A 2:2 draw, a few moments before the end of regular time, the quarter-finals went to extra time. However, coach Trpišovský waved at Tomáš Holeš in the 89th minute. After taking turns, he hugged him, patted him. He said a few words.
In the 103rd minute, Ladislav Krejčí also made it to the substitutes. He waved his hands, heeded the cauldron of Sparta. Behind the line, he spat with coach Prisk, but it was clear how much he still wanted to help his teammates right on the field.
The coaches did not specifically talk about their moves in the post-match press conference. There were far more explosive topics. Judge Rouček’s verdicts. The performances of the attackers or the perfect turnaround and the 3:2 win that pushed Sparta into the semi-finals in the domestic cup. The Sport.cz editors spoke to Karel Krejčí, who tried to unravel the unusual changes in defensive formations.
“I don’t know if they had a health problem. It seemed to me that Holeš got a stamp in the lime before the substitution,” thought coach Krejčí. “The coaches also definitely wanted to spare the key players, they were thinking towards the next derby. And Láďa Krejčí played over 100 minutes anyway.”
It would make sense. The 30-year-old Holeš did not enter the spring part of the season completely fit. He missed the warm-up, the last time before the derby he played slightly over twenty minutes against Pardubice. A half-hour overtime in the quarter-finals might have been too much, so Trpišovský called it off as a precaution.
It’s hard to bite. Derby is always decided by a penalty to our disadvantage, Jindřich Trpišovský sighed. Video: Sport.cz
In the second half, the younger leader of Sparta Krejčí moved from the defense to the reserve, where he runs more. “For Priske, it’s a fairly common option, especially if the match is going against Sparta,” noted fellow coach Krejčí.
“Even on the weekend in Slovácko, Láďa went higher. From the center of the field, he is closer to the penalty area, he binds opponents and thus creates more space for others. When he went to the derby on ten and the substitute Zeleny on stopper, it helped Sparta.”
Coach Priske took quite a risk in overtime by withdrawing Krejčí. The derby could have reached tricky penalties, for which Krejčí pays for the fumble. He held the line until recently, when he converted ten penalty kicks in a row.
Sparta managed without a specialist. And the coach’s namesake Krejčí recalls: “Paradoxically, both substitutes came together at a decisive moment.”
Tomáš Vlček stepped in for Holeš, Krejčí was replaced by Adam Karabec. The young Spartan burned the defending Vlček’s hand with his cross in overtime. And referee Rouček, after checking the video, ordered a penalty, which was converted by Karabec.
“I believed in myself, we have a winning mentality,” said the author of the decisive hit.
This was true even without the usual leaders, who were given minor concessions in the derby. Does this mean that in the next derby they will again lead both teams as captains? Sparta’s league match with Slavia is scheduled for Sunday.
2024-03-01 08:12:48
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