Stuttgart coach rejects suggestions of hollow victory

BERLIN, May 20 (Reuters) VfB Stuttgart coach Armin Veh had quietly kept the goals for his young team modest all season and only recently raised his sights to winning the Bundesliga title.

But when someone pointed out after the 2-1 victory over Energie Cottbus which secured the trophy that Stuttgart had only led the table for three of 34 rounds and may not be as deserving champions as Schalke 04, who led for 15 weeks, Veh snapped.

''The matter is quite simple -- whoever's on top at the end deserves to win the championship,'' said Veh, brushing off any thoughts of sympathy for long-suffering Schalke, who gave the title away by losing two of their last four games to finish second.

The championship sparked mass celebrations in Stuttgart, where thousands of fans watched the match at giant World Cup-style public viewing areas, and 100,000 people lined the streets of the southwestern city for a parade on Saturday night.

It was an unlikely triumph for Stuttgart, who were ninth and 32 points behind winners Bayern Munich last season. The league's youngest team with an average age of 25 was not even expected to challenge for a top-three finish needed to qualify for the Champions League.

Veh's main goal had been to reach the German Cup final -- where they chase a double on Saturday against Nuremberg -- and a top-three finish.

Stuttgart were fourth at the mid-season break but were by far the best team in the second half with 12 wins, two draws and just three losses.

Stuttgart also won their last eight matches to move up from third and erase Schalke's seven-point lead.

It was the third time in seven seasons that Schalke stumbled late to end up second. They squandered the title in 2001 and 2005, both times to Bayern Munich. This year Schalke were just as careless, with only 18 of 33 points from the last 11 matches.

''Unfortunately it wasn't enough,'' said Schalke coach Mirko Slomka after his team beat Arminia Bielefeld 2-1 yesterday, one week after losing a derby to Borussia Dortmund that knocked them off the top.

Schalke, ''champions'' for four minutes in 2001 before Bayern snatched the title with a stoppage-time equaliser, were briefly first on Saturday for about nine minutes when they led Bielefeld and Stuttgart trailed Cottbus.

''Nine minutes are better than four,'' said Slomka, whose club have yet to win the Bundesliga since it was founded in 1963.

Reuters BJR GC1500