Sports News

In Sports News this Monday: Race for Czech league championship gets interesting as first Plzeň home loss in two years hands Sparta chance of regaining title; Vydra and Pudil celebrate promotion to English Premier League with Watford; and free-of-charge WTA tournament Prague Open begins.

Sparta back in title race with five rounds remaining…

David Lafata, Pavel Kadeřábek, photo: CTK

The top of the Czech soccer league just got a lot more interesting, with defending champions Sparta Prague now back in the running for the title with only five rounds to go. Leaders Viktoria Plzeň allowed Sparta back into the race with a surprise 2:1 home defeat to Mladá Boleslav on Saturday. The Prague club – who hold the record for number of titles with 21 – didn’t hesitate to pounce on the opportunity. They dispatched Brno 4:0 in the capital the following day, with captain David Lafata leading from the front with a hat trick. However, Lafata attributed Sparta’s dominant display to the return from injury of key defender Pavel Kadeřábek, who set up three goals.

“His performance showed us why we missed him so much, and why it’s so good that he’s back. To put it stupidly, we don’t another Pavel. If he ever leaves, it’ll be hard for anybody to replace him. He has set the bar incredibly high.”

Sparta are still three points behind but will lift the title if they win their remaining five games. That’s because they go head to head against Viktoria Plzeň – in the capital – in two weeks’ time in a game that could well decide the championship.

… after first home defeat in nearly two years for Viktoria Plzeň

Viktoria Plzeň - FK Mladá Boleslav, photo: CTK

Viktoria Plzeň’s defeat against Mladá Boleslav was their first at their Štruncový sady stadium in nearly two years. The scorer of Plzeň’s only goal, Daniel Kolář, said all good things come to an end – and that there is still all to play for in the league.

“Every series ends one day, naturally. We couldn’t go on winning here forever, even though we all hoped we would… We never expected to win the league by nine or 10 points. So I hope it’ll be interesting until the end and that I believe we have the strength to win it over the 30 rounds.”

Pudil and Vydra celebrate promotion to EPL with Watford

Two Czech players who are already celebrating are Daniel Pudil and Matěj Vydra. The pair have helped English Championship club Watford win promotion to the Premier League, with Vyrda bagging their second in a 2:0 win over Brighton on Saturday.

Prague Open sees return of WTA to Czech Republic

Lucie Šafářová, photo: David Kubíček

Czech tennis fans have a lot to enjoy this week, with the Prague Open taking place in the city’s Stromovka Park. The event is free of charge and the favourites include Czechs Lucie Šafářová and Karolína Plíšková, both of whom are in the world top 20, while other star names include Svetlana Kuznetsova and Camille Giorgi. It is the first WTA tournament held in the Czech Republic for five years and has prize money of USD 250,000.