The twenty-one won in Greece and kept the chance at the European Championships

The selection of coach Karel Krejčí holds the first place with a gain of 21 points. The second Scotland lags behind by three points, but it has a good match and, in addition, a better mutual balance, which decides in the event of a tie. After today, the Czechs are at least sure of the second place, from which the five best teams from nine groups will pass to the championship.

Although the Czechs did not play for almost a month after the interruption of Czech competitions due to coronavirus, they still had a clear advantage from the beginning. However, they gained only two chances from the dominance in the first half. In the 36th minute, Matoušek overshot in a good position and Havelka ended up in the same way.

The home crowd was not pleased with that one. Lymperakis drove into Holík with a sharp slide, then stepped on his leg and received a red card from the referee. As in the first in the first match, in which Dimitriu got the red in the 24th minute, the Greeks finished weakening.

“The weight of the match hit us, we were nervous and we didn’t know much advice. Then their stupid red card helped us and we said to ourselves the other half that we had to use it,” Bucha said. “We already had it under control against ten. It’s a sweet reward for the end of qualifying, now we will wait for the other results and see if we will be happy with the progress,” added coach Krejčí.

Coach Krejčí reacted to the numerical advantage with a pair of substitutions and instead of Havelka and Plechatý he sent Granečný with Ostrák to the field. The Czechs immediately pushed their opponents, but for a long time they could not prevail and they were helped by a repeated penalty in the 68th minute after the intervention of Apostolakis on Granečný.

Šašinka took the penalty kick, but Siampanis managed to try. However, because he left the goal line prematurely, the referee ordered a repeat penalty and Bucha sent the Czechs to the lead. Another big chance was then thrown by Šašinka and Granečný failed with a long-range shot from a distance.

“I told myself in advance that I would kick it in the middle, and fortunately the goalkeeper didn’t hit it with his hands and it went around his head. Fortunately, I missed it,” Bucha said. “It was not pleasant before the penalty, I felt a great responsibility. But I did not deal with how Šáša (Šašinka) kicked the penalty before,” he added.

In the end, the locals knocked, but the Czechs did not allow too much drama. After the break, Vaníček found a running Drchal, who was not mistaken in front of the goalkeeper. Krejčí’s selection ended the qualification with a balance of six wins, three draws and a single defeat, and on the way forward from the first place he must hope for the loss of Scotland in Greece on Tuesday.

Qualification of the European Under-21 Football Championship in Athens:

Group 4:

Greece – Czech Republic 0: 2 (0: 0)

Goals: 68. Bucha z pen., 90. + 1 Drchal. Judges: Jaccottet – Jobin, Hirzel (all Swiss). ŽK: Diamantis – Plechatý, Krejčí, Ostrák. ČK: 42. Lymperakis (Greek). No spectators.

Greece: Siampanis – Apostolakis, Evangelu, Diamantis, Katranis – Buzukis (46. Tsiggaras), Tsingaras (72. Botos), Balojannis (46. Papanikolau) – Lymperakis, Kutsias (57. Kampetsis), Vrusai (80. Machairas). Trainer: Gumas.

CR: Jedlička – Zima, Krejčí, Plechatý (46. Ostrák) – Holík, Havelka (46. Granečný), Janošek, Matoušek (65. Vaníček) – Lingr (89. Klíma), Bucha, Šašinka (77. Drchal). Coach: Tailor.

Lithuania – San Marino 3: 0 (1: 0).

Table: