Czech U-21s look to win group

While they still lead their qualifying group, the Czech Republic failed to guarantee advancing to next year's Under-21 European Football Championship with a 1-1 draw against Germany Sept. 3.

To do that, they must produce a strong result Sept. 7 against Iceland.

Lukáš Mareček put the Czechs ahead with a long-range strike in the 38th minute, and though the team was largely outplayed, they led for much of the game before Germany's Jan Tilman Kirchhoff evened the score in the 72nd minute.

"I had hoped for a much better performance from our side," said Assistant Coach Jan Suchopárek, who led the team as Head Coach Jakub Dovalil served a suspension. "A draw is not fair because the opponent was better and had more chances."

The team may have missed their head coach as some of the players admitted that the Germans, the current European Under-21 champions, surprised them tactically.

"[They] surprised us by playing 4-3-3 formation, which we did not expect," said goalie Tomáš Vaclík. "They were stretching the game into our half of the field, especially in the first half, but we managed it. We had only one shot on goal and scored, so with a draw we should be satisfied."

The draw was a first for the Czech team, which had won all six of its previous matches including beating the same German team last year. Germany has already been eliminated from advancing.

"We were taught a lesson, even though we did not underestimate anything," said Mareček, who plays for the Belgian club Anderlecht. "We have to be happy to even get the single point."

The success of the Czech Under-21 squad is in marked contrast to recent international results. The Czech men's national team failed to qualify for this year's World Cup, and it has been five years since a Czech club team has qualified for the Champions League. All three Czech teams participating in this year's Europa League early rounds failed to advance. The Czech domestic Gambrinus liga has slipped to 24th in UEFA's rankings.

"It's obvious that [Czech] soccer is going through a weaker time," said men's national team Head Coach Michal Bílek in August.

The relative skepticism makes the Under-21 team's successes all the more remarkable, and though the draw Sept. 3 was a disappointment, the team is well-positioned to move on to the European Championship.

There are 10 qualifying groups. The winner of each automatically qualifies for the championship, with runners-up qualifying for a playoff round and the four best advancing.

The Czechs sit three points ahead of Iceland, the second-place team in their group. Iceland must beat the Czech Republic by two or more goals to win the group in a Sept. 7 game that kicks off after press time in Jablonec.

The group's second-place finisher will enter the October playoff. The group winner books their ticket for the 2011 championship in Denmark.

As of press time, Switzerland, Croatia, Ukraine, Greece and the Netherlands had already finalized their trips to Denmark. Romania can afford to lose by two goals in their final match and still automatically qualify. Sweden will qualify with a draw away at Bulgaria.

Several groups remain completely wide open. Belarus, Austria and Scotland are level in their group heading into the final day of play.

Wales leads its group but needs a draw against Italy to clinch their spot. In the same group, Hungary has a chance to move into second place depending on the Wales-Italy result and the result of their match at home against Bosnia Herzegovina.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com