SPARTA IN FRONT!
A.C. Sparta — S.K. Rapid 6:2 (3:2)
A great advantage for A.C. Sparta — S.K. Rapid's poor second half performance increased the result for the Prague team — Captain Nitsch sent off by Raphaël van Praag — Káďa scores the quickest goal of the tournament — Sparta's half-back line once again dictates the fate.



Finally the first final of the first edition of the Mitropa Cup. Both teams had a very rich record of highly advanced clashes in their recent histories. Not long ago, S.K. Rapid, and especially the A.C. Sparta had great teams that scared their opponents with an imposing style of play: the great S.K. Rapid of Josef Uridil and Železná Sparta.

Starting with the S.K. Rapid, they had no difficulties to advance against N.K. Hajduk Split, as the Yugoslavian team's game was considered by experts as a primitive style and still in development. However, the next phase would not be easy, as Czechoslovakia teams were considered the favorites to win the tournament, as much as Hungária F.C. was increasing its power as the tournament was being played. 

The last match was very disputed until the last moments, as S.K. Slavia has been ahead since the first half. However, with the match in its last moments, with approximately 10 minutes remaining, through a goal by Karl Wondrak and Ferdinand Wesely, S.K. Rapid opened up an advantage against S.K. Slavia, therefore qualified for the final.


A.C. Sparta Praha:
W.S.C. Admira — 5:1
W.S.C. Admira — 3:5
Hungária F.C. — 2:2
Hungária F.C. — 0:0

S.K. Rapid Wien:
N.K. Hajduk Split — 8:1
N.K. Hajduk Split — 1:0
S.K. Slavia — 2:2
S.K. Slavia — 2:1


The A.C. Sparta, on the other hand, faced a more arduous road to the final — theoretically — as W.S.C Admira was regarded as an emerging force in Austria. However, as much as the second match caused some problems for Sparta, they reached the semi-final against the only surviving Hungarian team in the tournament: Hungária F.C. The Prague team could have already won an excellent advantage in the first match, but they didn't know how to take advantage of the opportunities. The second match could have been a disaster, as almost Hungária F.C. managed to eliminate the A.C. Sparta at home. However, an irregularity on the part of the Hungarian team was pointed out, thus the A.C. Sparta went through to the final without playing a third match – as many wanted to happen.


THE MATCH

The Viennese first entered the field, greeted vividly by their supporters in the stands — there were something close to a hundred Rapid supporters. Then Sparta came greeted with applause and the referee was also given a friendly welcome. Soon afterwards, while the photographers are arranging the usual groups of those who are to wrestle here, Dutchman Raphaël van Praag, whom Sparta and Rapid had agreed to have as their referee in the first match, comes out in the procession of the linesmen. The burly gentleman, plain in appearance and with hair not exactly luxuriant anymore, summons the captains of the teams, Wessely and Kaja, to let them decide the fields in which the teams will line up. The coin was tossed and Rapid kicked off.


Mitropa Cup, Final – 1 st match: 30/10/1927, Sunday 14:45.
A.C. Sparta – S.K. Rapid 6:2 (3:2)
Place: Stadion Letná, Prague — Referee: Raphaël van Praag(Belgium).
Linesmen: ?
Attendance: about 24.000.

A.C. Sparta
Coach: Václav Špindler.
XI: Hochmann — Burgr, Perner — Kolenatý, Káďa(c), Hajný — Patek, Šíma, Miclík, Silný, Horejs.

S.K. Rapid
Coach: Dionys Schönecker and Eduard Bauer.
XI: Feigl — Jellinek, Czejka — Madlmayer, Smistik, Nitsch(c) — Wondrak, Weselik, Kuthan, Horvath, Wesely.

Goals: Silný(2, 32min; 76min), Patek(2, 62min; 78min), Káďa(1min) and Šíma(13min) — Weselik(15min) and Wesely(34min).

*   *   *

Before the clock reached the first minute. Jellinek kicked the ball, but Káďa got it for the Sparta team. Then, the centre half-back sent a shot which Feigl could not save. What a great start for A.C. Sparta. 1:0.

At the 13th minute, Sparta found their second goal. Sparta got a corner kick, Horejs crossed, Patek shot and Feigl defended, but Šíma was there to add a second goal to the scoreboard. 1:1

16th minute: Rapid catches up a goal. Free kick against Sparta. Smistik passes the leather to Weselik, who passes it to Kuthan, who passes the ball to Weselik, who shoots in with a low shot. 2:1.

Sparta's third goal was scored by Silný — 35th minute —, after a rebound from Feigl. 3:1.

A.C.Sparta's goal sequence ended in the first half when Burgr brought down Kuthan inside the area, therefore Raphaël van Praag signaled a penalty for the Rapid. Weselik hits and scored. 3:2.

The team from Prague scored three more goals in the second half, completely diminishing the fighting spirit of their opponents.

62th minute: A serious mistake by Nitsch, Šíma and Patek get in front as a result, Patek send an unstoppable shot. 4:2.

At the 76th minute, Patek rushes forward, passes the ball to Miclík, who lets the leather pass and Silný shot in from the furthest distance. 5:2.

78th minute: Patek scores after a cross from Horejs. 6:2

A few minutes before the end, Nitsch is sent off.


The match was favored by a wonderful autumn weather, to something close to 24.000 spectators looking for a great match. The vast majority of the fans left satisfied, because Sparta was able to defeit their opponent with such a high goal difference, thus almost conquering the first edition of Mitropa Cup.

 The victory over Rapid was the best performance of the AC. Sparta as a whole, a victory that aroused genuine enthusiasm among the spectators, who at the end carried off František Kolenatý — considered the best player on the pitch by many — as well as Patek, Hochmann and Šíma on their shoulders. 


S.K. RAPID

S.K. Rapid only posed a serious opponent for A.C. Sparta in the first half and 10 minutes of the second half. After that they fell back and Sparta won at will. Rapid disappointed with only good individual performances. They all played productive football, but without seriously endangering their opponents. The goal difference was so huge that Rapid had little hope of taking the lead from Sparta in the final in Vienna.

The Viennese defended tried as they could, but it was not possible to resist for long the insistence of A.C. Sparta, playing with great perseverance, especially on the right side of Patek-Kolenatý. Feigl's good moments were interspersed with moments of weakness, contributed to by Czejka's harsh play and Jellinek's uncertainty. Feigl was not quite up to the task. He used his fists more than usual and twice had the misfortune to put the ball at the feet of an opponent, which resulted in two goals. He was powerless against the other goals.

In the half-back line, young Madlmayer tried to beat Silný and Horejs, so did Josef Smistik. Madlmayer was a chaser from the very beginning and always let Horejs pass already in the first half of the game, when he was the main weapon of the Czech attack. The old Nietsch, who this time played in his position, was naturally liked better than in defence, where many considered that Rapid used to put him only out of necessity.

The attack of Rapid worked in a disjointed way as a result of the rigid counterattack of the Czech half-back line.

Richard Kuthan and Hans Horvath gave numerous demonstrations of their skills, but it was not enough for a countable success. Although Kuthan was still full of fire, he was well guarded by Káďa. He almost always he was too late by the famous fraction of a second, or the ball was taken from him earlier by the more agile Sparta halves. He could not keep up the pace in the second half. Weselik scored, but played below the performance of the other two.

The dreaded left winger Wesely was not given a word at all by Kolenatý. He was only able to fire one dangerous shot in the whole game and Vochmann drove it over the crossbar to the corner; that was in the last minute before the end. On the other side, Wondrak fought with Hajný, with alternate fortunes. His crosses ended mostly behind the goal.


A.C. SPARTA

A.C. Sparta's offensive actions, which in the first half were more like forays without a certain coherence and desired precision, turned into a tidy, fast and very purposeful game in the second half. Sparta exhausted the completely overloaded Rapid half-backs and defence, which was not able to cover the danger on all sides of the ever threatening Vienna goal.

Hochmann guarded Sparta's posts with the expected security and calm.

There was much justifiable apprehension about Sparta's defence, for Jaroslav Burgr, instead of caution and confidence, overused his abruptness, often misjudging the situation and placing Hochmann in front of the free Rapid attack. He played a more rude style than Steiner. However, the young full-back contributed directly and indirectly to both goals of the visitors, but in the second half he gained a great deal of confidence in stopping attacks. His weak point was his rebounding. Antonín Perner played reliably especially after the break, when Sparta's play overshadowed perfectly the performance of Rapid, whose players did not even get to the ball at times. Perner also performed significantly better than in the match against Yugoslavia.

Sparta's strength was once again in their half-back line. František Kolenatý – Karel Pešek-Káďa – Antonín Hajný was considered the world's best half-back line. S.K. Rapid's attacks were constantly annulled by these three great players. Káďa, alongside Kolenatý, was the spotlight of the Czech team. Hajný also found his way into this important match.



Sparta selected a new offensive formation for this match, which caused a certain amount of astonishment, as this would be applied as a test. Silný would no longer be the team's center-forward but Josef Miclík. In addition, Patek, who played as an inside-forward during the entire tournament, was rostered as a right winger, thus Šíma would be the right insider.

Silný was the best of the three, his actions, in addition to connecting very well with Horejs, were incisive and very well planned. Silný was the main member of A.C. Sparta's inside trio. Silný gaining space as inside left for his spins, which lured the Rapid full-backs and freed up Šíma and Miclík. These two were not on the same level as the other three forwards. Miclík didn't have enough infiltration and tried to play more quietly, which he always failed to do, just like Šíma, a very cautious player in the first half.

The attack was more about individuality than interplay, which was helped by a sudden goal by Káďa right at the start. They played more like a hunting side, where the driving force was Josef Silný, making excellent use of Horejs' self-made style. Šíma and Adolf Patek, initially neglected by their teammates, saved fresh forces with this tactic, which they used in the second, decisive half of the match.

Josef Horejs was part of two goals, he also assisted Patek. In the second half, Adolf Patek increased his performance and found the net two times. His combonations with Kolenatý also were the most dangerous part of the team.



František Hochmann: S.K Rapid's right side was weak. They could not pass our defense. Their best men were Horvath, Weselik and Wesely.

Richard Kuthan: Sparta had more luck than us, but also played well.

Dionys Schöneder: Our team did what it could. The referee gave us a little disadvantaged, but that was not decisive. In soccer you also have to have luck and this time we were completely lacking.

Scheinost: Our victory was fully deserved to the extent shown. The referee was good and erred only in trivial cases.

Leopold Nitsch: My outpouring was not justified, because as captain I have the duty to reproach the referee for unjustified decisions.

Káďa: Rapid played better today than lefthin against Slavia. The game was also more open. However, our victory is deserved to the given extent.

Raphaël van Praag: I gladly accepted the invitation and came to Prague to referee the Central European Cup final. Both teams played with full vigour and gave their all. I have never refereed an international club match where both teams played with such an effort. In the first half, Sparta's attack did not impress me the best. In the second half, however, this line was impeccable. I know Sparta's halves. They played as I expected. Kolenatý was, in my opinion, the best man on the pitch. The Sparta team played fair and made my task much easier by not reacting to the sharp play of the Viennese. 

» I expected more from Rapid. I was surprised that they collapsed in the second half. Perhaps Sparta's excellent forward play and hellish pace was the cause. I ruled out Nietsch for offence because he is the captain of the team he is supposed to be a role model for.