Slovan Liberec missed the title for not using Filip Nguyen

 The final of the Czech National Cup between Slovan Liberec and Sparta Praha took place. In this match, coach Pavel Hoftych unexpectedly put Filip Nguyen on the bench. His decision paid a heavy price.

When the game was tense and struggling, reserve keeper Knobloch made a silly mistake. In the 72nd minute, goalkeeper Knobloch let Sparta Praha striker steal the ball right inside the penalty area. No other way, he was forced to commit a penalty. As a result, the 27-year-old goalkeeper could not correct it and let Sparta Praha increase the score to 2-1.

This is also the final goal of this match. Thereby, Slovan Liberec missed the opportunity to win the first title in 15 years, as well as lost the ticket to attend the third qualifying round of the Europa League next year.

The decision to put Filip Nguyen on the bench in such an important match led coach Pavel Hoftych to receive much criticism from the fans. They said that Filip Nguyen should have been tapped. The goalkeeper is clearly more experienced in the top games.

At Slovan Liberec, Filip Nguyen is the number one goalkeeper. He has always shown a stable performance in recent years and is highly appreciated by professionals. Moreover this season Filip Nguyen once shone in the National Cup when helping Slovan Liberec overcome FC Slovácko in the quarterfinals on the penalty shoot-out.

Failure in the final of the National Cup caused Slovan Liberec to put all its mind into the Czech League to win a ticket to attend the European Cup.