Northern Ireland v Czech Republic

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The International Stage
On the international scene Czechoslovakia, and
since 1994 Czech Republic, have been at the
forefront of football in Europe and indeed in the
world.
Czechoslovakia were runners-up in the first World
Cup they entered in 1934, losing 2-1 to hosts Italy
after extra time in Rome, and runners-up again
in 1962 when they were defeated 3-1 by Brazil in
Santiago, Chile. They also reached the quarter-
finals in 1938 and 1990.
And Czechoslovakia are former European
champions. They won the Euros trophy when they
defeated favourites Germany in Belgrade in 1976
on penalty kicks. A cheeky spot-kick by midfielder
Antonin Panenka against famous German keeper
Sepp Maier gave the trophy to the underdogs after
the teams had scored two apiece in the 90 minutes
and extra time had brought no further goals.
As the Czech Republic they were runners-up in
Euro ’96 to Germany. Oliver Bierhoff’s ‘Golden Goal’
defeated coach Dusan Uhrin’s side 2-1 at Wembley.
Following that the Czech Republic qualified for Euro
2000 in Belgium and the Netherlands but failed to
get beyond the group stages.
Under coach Karel Bruckner they qualified for Euro
2004 in Portugal, reaching the semi-finals. They
beat Latvia 2-1, Netherlands 3-2 and Germany 2-1
in the group games, then Denmark 3-0, before
losing to eventual winners Greece 1-0 in the last
four.
In 2006 Bruckner took them to the World Cup finals
in Germany where they did not make it out of the
group. Two years later they qualified for Euro 2008
in Switzerland and Austria but an unfortunate
blunder by Petr Cech led to a 3-2 defeat against
Turkey and meant that they did not progress to the
last eight.
In 2010 and 2014 they failed to qualify for the World
Cup finals but had better fortune in Euro 2012 in
Poland/Ukraine, reaching the quarter-finals as
group winners after losing 4-1 to Russia, but then
defeating Greece 2-1 and Poland 1-0. They lost 1-0
to Portugal in the quarter-final.
At Euro 2016 in France a defeat against Spain (1-0),
a 1-1 draw with Croatia and a defeat to Turkey (2-0)
saw them finish last in their group.
60 years ago – Peter Doherty’s men shock
Czechs twice!
This evening’s match marks the eighth meeting
between Northern Ireland and a team from the
former Czechoslovakia and what is now the Czech
Republic.
And all eight encounters will have been World Cup
games, starting with the 1958 World Cup Finals in
Sweden.
Back in ’58 Peter Doherty was in charge when
Northern Ireland made their first ever appearance
on the biggest stage in international football
and ended up recording two victories against
Czechoslovakia.
The underdogs from Northern Ireland defeated the
Czechs 1-0, lost 3-1 against Argentina and drew
2-2 with West Germany before defeating odds-on
favourites Czechoslovakia again in a play-off (2-1).
That win meant they qualified for the last eight,
where they lost 4-0 to France.
Czech greats
Since the split with Slovakia in 1992, the Czech
Republic have qualified for the final stages of
every European Championship, with their best
performance coming in 2004 when they reached
the semi-finals before losing to eventual winners
Greece 1-0 in extra time.
They have qualified for one World Cup Finals
tournament - in Germany in 2006 - but went out
in the group stage. The odds are against them
achieving a place in Russia 2018.
Over the years the country has produced some top
class players, including the following super six (who
all played against Northern Ireland between 2001
and 2009):
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CZECH REPUBLIC
FACTFILE Words: Roy Kitson