Czechs 2010 hopes fading fast

October 12, 2008

The Czech Republic - for so long one of the most powerful and exciting teams in European football - downward spiral continued on Saturday after a 2-1 loss to Poland left their 2010 World Cup hopes hanging by a thread.

The Czechs have just a single point after two qualifying games and their hopes of reaching South Africa are fading fast.

“We failed. The loss is unpleasant. We thought it would be different, because we didn’t want to lose points here,” Czech head coach Petr Rada said after the match.

Before the game, Czech media were pinning hopes on the fact that many Poles are sidelined in their clubs. But on Saturday, even the substitutes were too good for the Czechs.

Goals from Pawel Brozek and Jakub Blaszczykowski had Poland 2-0 up and although Czechs pulled one back through sub Martin Fenin, Poland held on for a crucial victory.

“When you are playing against a team of similar qualities, you can’t expect to create fifteen scoring chances. We had two at the beginning and didn’t make it,” said Czech captain Tomas Ujfalusi.

The Czechs ended up with three defenders - Radoslav Kovac, Radek Sirl and Zdenek Pospech - in midfield, which just was not enough to outplay the creative Poles.

“It’s true that our strikers didn’t get many balls they could use,” said midfielder Jaroslav Plasil. “I’m certainly not happy with the way I played.”

The Czech Republic are fourth in Group Three with a single point from two games, trailing Slovakia in third by five points and the joint group leaders, Poland and Slovenia, by six.

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