Czech Republic 2-0 Poland: Home Win Keeps World Cup Dreams Alive

Tomas Necid and Jaroslav Plasil both struck to dash Poland's hopes of World Cup Qualification...

Oct 10, 2009 8:46:08 PM

More On :  Czech Rep., Poland, Czech Rep. vs Poland
Euro 08: Jaroslav Plasil,, Turkey - Czech (PA)

It was obvious from the early stages of the match tonight in Prague that the Czech Republic were in full control of the match as they played hosts to Group 3 opponents Poland.

The home side pushed hard from the opening stages, keeping the Poles pinned back and forcing the visitors to stick to long-balls. A solid back four set up infront of Petr Cech, however, kept the travelling side very much at bay.

Despite the Czech's domination in the first half, the very centralised play that they were producing in an attempt to play Milan Baros through the middle simply was not going to plan.

The hosts had a shout for a penalty on the half-hour mark when Jaroslav Plasil went down inside the area. It was not to be however, as referee Claus Bo Larsen said nothing doing.

Poland began to perk up slightly shortly before half time, but only managed to push hard enough to force corner kicks which were easily dealt with by Ivan Hasek's men.

AC Milan's Marek Jankulovski looked like he could have broken the deadlock on 35 minutes when he found himself enough space just outside the box to unleash a powerful shot at goal. The strike went in the right direction at first, but crawler higher and higher before sailing clean over the bar.

Jaroslav Plasil could have given his side the lead just before the whistle was blown for half-time when he narrowly failed to connect to a beautiful cross swung in by Zdenek Pospech. Plasil's late arrival for the cross meant that the score would stay 0-0 at the break.

Tomas Necid was introduced after half-time for the fairly unimaginative Michael Papadopulos, a switch that would prove a masterstroke on Ivan Hasek's part.

Five minutes into the second half, Necid made it 1-0. A slick through-ball from Arsenal's Tomas Rosicky found Necid inside the box, leaving the super-sub with only his marker and the goalkeeper to beat. The striker shrugged off his defender just enough to poke the ball past  Wojciech Kowalewski and give the hosts a deserved lead.

Poland almost came up with an equaliser later in the half when Kamil Grosicky snuck into the box and sent a header towards Petr Cech from an acute angle. The ball looked like it could sneak its way into the net, but the big Chelsea man was on point to palm away the danger.

On 72 minutes, Jaroslav Plasil was awarded for his terrific performance throughout the game when he struck to bring the score to 2-0, well and truly dousing any hopes that Poland had of qualifying for South Africa.

Stephen Crawford, Goal.com
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