In the penultimate of the eight matches of the World Cup qualification over Belarus, the Czech footballers won 2: 0 and kept real hope for second place in the group.
Patrik Schick opened the score for Monday’s duel in the 22nd minute, and Adam Hložek added in the 65th minute after his pass. The national team followed up on the September home victory over Belarus 1: 0 and also won the seventh duel. Due to the ban on flights to Belarus after the sanctions from the European Union, the match was played on neutral Russian soil in Kazan, moreover without spectators.
Coach Jaroslav Šilhavý’s charges still have the same number of points in the second place in the table as the third Wales, who played one less match. Only the winner of the group, who will most likely be Belgium, will advance directly to the championship.
The teams in the second positions are waiting for the playoffs, where the other two best winners of the League of Nations groups will present themselves, who will not succeed in the qualification. The Czechs are almost certain that they would eventually occupy one of these two places. The qualifying group will end at home against Estonia in November.
“We believe that we will manage the last home match, Wales will probably win too. Then it will probably be decided in the match between Wales and Belgium. We will see, we will support Belgium. We no longer have it in our hands, but we still believe that it will turn out,” he said on press conference Šilhavý.
Coach Šilhavý made four changes compared to the match with Wales. Wiesner and Zima’s defenders started for the first time in the basic line-up of the national team, and Vydra and Sadílek jumped in reserve. Novák, Kalas and Král started only on the bench, midfielder Barák was missing due to a penalty for yellow cards.
The Czech team had a territorial advantage from the beginning, but it did not get into the chances easily. Right from the first major option, the guests struck. Sadílek found Schick in the 22nd minute, who scored Pavljučenka from the volley and scored the 17th goal in the national team “A”.
In the 26th minute, the striker Vydra got into the escape, tried to bypass the Belarusian goalkeeper, but in distress he headed off the pole. Shortly afterwards, Schick fired and the home goalkeeper stopped his attempt with problems more than twice.
“We played complicatedly in the first half, we lost simple balls from the beginning. The opponent waited for our mistake and went to dangerous breaks. However, we scored a goal in the first half,” said Šilhavý.
Immediately after the break, Captain Souček Peška pushed out, but he narrowly missed with a cross shot from the right side and did not follow the shot against Wales. With 53 minutes played, Schick had a fantastic opportunity to reply but his shot flew harmlessly into the side-netting of the goal.
Ten minutes later, he fired from an angle outside Hložek, but a moment later the nineteen-year-old Spartan talent was met. After Schick’s pass with a small run, Pavljučenka scored and scored for the first time in the 12th national team. The Belarusians, the last team on the table, practically did not threaten and did not shoot between the poles during the whole match. The Czech team won for the first time after three duels.
“The first goal in the national team, I’m excited. I got a beautiful balloon from Pati Schick and maybe it fell with luck there. But even that counts,” said Hložek on Czech Television, who scored for the first time since the end of August. “I hope it helps me and I broke it. I didn’t score more than 10 matches, that’s a lot. I hope it starts to fall,” he added.
The Belarusians, the last team on the table, practically did not threaten and did not shoot between the poles during the whole match. The Czech team won for the first time after three duels. “We regrouped the line-up in the second half and I think it has improved. We have already dominated. We could have added more goals, but we are taking the 2-0 victory,” said Šilhavý
Group E World Cup Qualifier 2022 match in Kazan:
Belarus – Czech Republic 0: 2 (0: 1)
Goals: 22. Schick, 65. Hložek. Judges: Letexier – Mugnier, Rahmouni – Willy (video, all Fr.). ŽK: Bykov, Pečenin, Judenkov – Hložek, Zima. No spectators.
Belarus: Pavlyuchenko – Begunov, Seljava (46th Sadovnichi), Judenkov, Pechenin – Sedko, Bykov, Klimovich (78. Solovej), Antilevsky (68. R. Lisakovich) – Ebong, V. Lisakovich. Coach: Kondratev.
Czech Republic: Vaclík – Wiesner, Čelůstka, Zima, Matějů – Sadílek (88. Zmrhal), Souček – Pešek (81. Kopic), Hložek (88. Kuchta), Vydra (46. Pavelka) – Schick (90. + 2 Král) . Coach: Squinting.
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