A SPANISH COLLAPSE
VALENCIA—SPARTA, 1:5 (1:2)

A.C. Sparta without Karel Steiner, František Kolenatý, Anton Bulla and Jan Dvořáček — Due to the enthusiasm from the home team, an excellent first half was played — F.C. Valencia could not keep up with the pace after the break.

This was a highly anticipated match by the local public, as it was about A.C. Sparta, the Czech team that was considered one of the best in the world. On the other hand, the visiting team would face the champions of the Levante Regional Championship, the recently created Valencia F.C. The home team was expected to give the match a certain resistance, however, as already expected by the public, the Czechs' victory was almost inevitable.

For that match, Ricardo Zamora announced that he would defend Valencia's goal. However, on Saturday, a statement from the spectacular goalkeeper said that this would no longer be possible, as Zamora would have to play with Espanol. This would be an exceptional clash between A.C. Sparta's offensive system and the one widely considered to be the best goalkeeper in the world.

In fact, several posters with Zamora's name among Valencia's squad were distributed.


International match: 30/12/1923, Wednesday 15:00.
F.C. Valencia — A.C. Sparta 1:5 (1:2) 
Place: Mestalla, Valencia - Referee: Mas Llovera (Barcelona)
Attendance: about 10.000.

F.C. Valencia: Mariano — Simarro, Piñol — Marín, Reverter, Estevan — Costa, Cubells, Montes, Peral, Martínez.
Coach: Antonín Fivébr.

A.C. Sparta: Hochamnn — Hojer, Perner — Stěpan, Káďa, Červený — Sedláček, Knížek, Bohata, Hajný, Šimonek.
Coach: 

Goals:
F.C. Valencia: Cubells(20min).
A.C. Sparta: Hajný(3, 35min; 60min; 85min), Sedlacek(9min), Knížek(49min).

#Details

Half-time: F.C. Valencia replaced José Marín by Hipólito Tarín.


This match demonstrated the true enthusiasm of Valencia, which had a lot of dynamism and determination in their actions. Catalyzed by their indescribable crowd, the team was completely attentive, at first, during the match. And this can be demonstrated in the first minutes of the match, when the home team's actions were too incisive against A.C. Sparta's defensive system. However, a header by Josef Sedláček added the first goal to the scoreboard.

However, anyone who would think that the home team was depressed after this failure would be wrong. On the contrary, tough moments were coming for the Czech team. After a few minutes, Cubells equalized the score to the indescribable cheers of the crowd. Valencia's 1st goal. After Valencia's goal, the team became even more excited, reaching a point where the match could be reversed to the home team's side. The plot, however, changed when a cannonball sent by Ferdinand Hajný put A.C. Sparta ahead again.


MATCH REPORT: If I hadn't been an eyewitness, I would never have believed how a single such failure under extraordinary circumstances in the Spanish environment could cause complete panic among the old veterans, which are undoubtedly almost all the players of the championship team. I admit that, looking at all the confusion, I myself was prepared for the worst, and although the match ended with our complete victory, I do not forget that in the first half between the 15th and 25th min. there were times when victory or defeat was decided.

MAS LLOVERA: Sparta has been truly colossal, better than in Barcelona, because their forwards, on the other hand, have shot a lot and well, especially Dvořáček and Káďa played a great game.

FERDINAND SCHEINOST: Káďa, Hojer, Červený, Bohata, Hajný stood out.

Llovera mistook Hajný for Dvořáček.


In the second half of the match, the plot of the meeting completely changed. The Valencia team tried to defend itself against the marvelous advances of A.C. Sparta's vanguard. However, due to the constant rush in the first half, the home team ended up getting tired. Through goals from Knížek and two more from Hajný, the red team achieved a glorious victory on Spanish soil.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CAPTAIN.

After the meeting, the captain Káďa was asked a few question regarding Valencia and other aspects. The interviewer was warmly received by the sympathetic centre-half of Sparta. These were his main answers:

Káďa: Valencia is an excellent team that surprised us with its excellent high play; however, they are still a little behind in the ground game.

» The centre-forward is a good player but a bit sharp. The right inside forward is the team's best and most dangerous player. Of the half-fbacks, we like the centre-half and the right half-back. In defense, the left back is better than his teammate. The goalkeeper seemed weak to us.

» In the first half, Valecncia played excellently, but as a result of the sharp pace, they dropped in the second half.

» The judge satisfied us completely, better than the English Watson in Barcelona, because the latter judged too diplomatically.

» The Valencian crowd is really mature and they have been very welcoming towards us. The Catalan audience was also correct this year, whereas in the matches held at the stadium two years ago they were too fanatical.

» We are completely satisfied with the result of the first match against Valencia.

» Antonín Fivébr played centre-half in Sparta for 12 years, he was my teacher, and since he left his homeland I have been playing in his place.

» When we mentioned to him that Zamora might play for Valencia, he mentioned Zamora's excellent performance for Español last year and thinks he is better than Plattkó.

» We don't know if we go to Paris, because the judges conspired against us in the last Olympics, and we don't want something like that to happen again.

» In today's match, we fielded a team without Bulla, Dvořáček, Steiner and Kolenatý.

» In our first game in Barcelona, the correct result should have been 0-0, as the goal scored by Martí followed a misplay by Samitier.