Sparta Praha wins soccer league title

By Tom Clifford and František Bouc

Staff Writers

Sparta Praha captured the Gambrinus liga title after a second-half Tomáš Řepka header earned them a 1-0 home victory over Teplice May 15.

Sparta went through the entire 30-match league campaign undefeated, and the victory sparked wild scenes as fans of "The Invincibles" celebrated the club's 35th league title.

"I'm still delirious," Řepka said. "It's probably the hardest and most important title I've fought for with Sparta."

This was one of the closest campaigns of recent times with three teams in contention for the title going into the final day. Anything short of a Sparta victory could have seen Baník Ostrava or Jablonec claim the silverware. As it turned out, Jablonec finished runner-up after a 2-0 victory over České Budějovice while Ostrava finished third following a 1-1 draw with Příbram. Both teams qualified for the Europa League play-offs next season.

Crowd favorite and captain Řepka had been inspirational for Sparta all season, and the central defender's crunching  tackles, uncompromising approach and command of the back four proved the foundation for Sparta's successful season.

The Czech champions now turn their attention to next season's Champions League play-offs, where they hope to advance to the lucrative group stages.

Harsh words

Jaromír Jágr did not hesitate to speak his mind after the Czech national hockey team's frustrating start into the World Championship in Germany.

"Some younger players who refused to play in the championship should be kissing the asses of the older guys, who in the past joined the national team without argument," he said.

In the early rounds, the Czech team struggled. Although they beat Sweden, the Czechs lost to Switzerland and also to Norway in the group phase of the tournament. As of press time, the Czechs were in good shape to advance to the quarterfinals after a 3-1 victory over Latvia May 17. They took on Canada May 18.

The historic 3-2 loss to underdog Norway led to harsh criticism from Jágr of the NHL-based players who declined to join the national team. About two dozen players turned down head coach Vladimír Růžička's invitations. Only three NHL players agreed to compete in Germany. It is the lowest number since the early 1990s, when Czech players began regularly playing in the NHL.

The frustrated Jágr, 37, the most successful Czech player in NHL history, said past strong results of Czech hockey team were instrumental in attracting NHL scouts for Czech players.

"Today's generation of Czech players in the NHL should realize what opened the door to the NHL. ... None of them was so great to become a No. 1 pick in the draft. NHL clubs would hardly be picking so many Czech players if we had not won the World Championship in the past," Jágr said.

Jágr, who over the past seasons played in the Russian KHL, said NHL-based Czech players should be committed to opening doors to other Czech players as well.

"It's a pity that they are forgetting to work that way," he said.

New Jersey Devils' forward Patrik Eliáš, who captained the Czech team in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February, agreed some players may not have good reason to decline an invitation, but he was critical of Jágr for generalizing.

"Every single player had individual reasons, and most of them were substantial," Eliáš said. He also questioned Jágr's statement that the past national team achievements secured Czech players spots in the NHL.

"It's true that past wins of the national team brought Czech players into the spotlight. However, once they got into the NHL, they had to work hard on their own in order to win a spot in the lineup," Eliáš said.

Jágr later downplayed his criticism. He said he just wanted to point out that Czech hockey is in a crisis and the national team could not succeed in major tournaments without NHL players.

"I didn't want to insult anyone," Jágr said. "My only concern was to point out that, if things were going this way, we could soon get into serious trouble. ... A loss against Norway by one goal could soon be considered a success."

The writers can be reached at news@praguepost.com