The Czech footballers entered the final match of the League of Nations group against Georgia with three changes in the starting line-up compared to Saturday’s duel in Albania.
Due to a penalty for two yellow cards, captain Tomáš Souček and striker Tomáš Chorý left, and were replaced by Alex Král and Jan Kliment. For the striker from Olomouc, it was the first time in the starting line-up in a competitive match. The last change was the deployment of Adam Hložk instead of Lukáš Provod.
Souček represented the national team in a competitive match after three years and for the first time since November 2021, when he did not play in the final of the world qualification against Estonia. Since then, he was absent in only one preparatory duel, otherwise he started in the starting line-up every time. Tomáš Holeš took over the captain’s armband after him.
The Czechs started the match well. Already in the third minute, Jemelka sent a long ball behind the Georgian defense, Hložek pushed the ball to Kliment, who with his foot found the running Pavel Šulec behind him, who shot past the Georgian goalkeeper with a left-footed shot into the counter-movement – 1:0.
Pavel Šulec scored the third goal in the tenth game in the national team jersey.
At the end of the twelfth minute, the goalkeeper Matěj Kovář made the first important save of the evening, who reacted brilliantly to a sharp shot by Lochoshvili, who was completely free inside the penalty area. But the Czech goalkeeper kept the team going.
Compared to Saturday’s match in Albania, Tuesday’s match with Georgia was much more aggressive from the start and the tempo was at a higher level. Georgia tried to get back into the game after conceding an early goal and threatened several times in a short period of time.
In the twenty-second minute, Adam Hložek got to the ball on the left side, who went with the ball along the penalty area and went around three opponents with a great slalom, until the last one fouled him and the Czech team had a free kick.
Adam himself set up the ball just a little outside the penalty area, with a sharp shot he sent the ball on the ground just next to the wall, from which the Czech players ran away and Mamardashivili missed the sharp shot – 2:0 for the Czech team!
In the thirtieth minute, it could have already been three goals, when Václav Jemelka finished off Vladimír Coufal’s cross, whose shot from an angle was headed over the crossbar at the last moment by the Georgian goalkeeper.
Two minutes before the end of the first half, the Czech footballers diverted the ball after the standard situation only to the corner of the goal, where Kvaratskhelia quickly prepared it for a shot, who subsequently hit the post of the Czech goal with a volley. Fortunately, the ball bounced back into the field.
Shortly after, Coufal leaned on the ball on the other side of the field, his fierce volley headed into the corner of one of the Georgia defenders. After the subsequent corner, Lukáš Červ fearlessly jumped on the ball, but missed the goal with his head.
Both teams entered the second half without changes and the guests had the first opportunity of the second forty-five minute period when Kvaratskhelia got a shot after the break, who fired a left-footed shot at the front post, but Matěj Kovář was ready again and fired a sharp shot.
The fifty-fourth minute, on the other hand, brought a chance on the other side, when the Czech footballers counter-attacked, led by Václav Černý. He finally guided the ball to the middle of the pitch and fired a sharp left-footed shot. Goalkeeper Mamardashvili deflected his shot behind him with one hand, finally cleared the ball to the corner in front of Hložek, who tried to reach the ball.
In the 60th minute, however, the guests managed to reduce the difference to one goal, when Mikautadze scored with a hard shot inside the penalty area after a precise pass from the right side.
A quarter of an hour before the end, Bořil won the ball in the half, passed it to Chytil, who found Provod through the defender’s pass, but his shot was blocked by the defender for a corner kick. Subsequently, Václav Jemelka again had another goal on his head after a standard situation, but he hit the ball at the last moment and headed it out of the goal.
In the 89th minute, the Czech team was stopped again by goalkeeper Matěj Kovář, when Georgia counter-attacked and Zivzivadze finished, but Kovář’s attempt headed for the back post went out.
The fight between these players came in the first minute of regulation, when Zivzivadze finished with a foot, Kovář blocked his shot and finally Bořil kicked the ball to safety. In a nervous ending full of yellow cards, however, the Czech team kept the lead and won 2:1.
A win means victory in Group B1 and certainty of promotion to the elite Nations League.
Nations League 2024/25 – Group B1
Czech Republic – Georgia 2:1 (2:0)
Branka: 3. Šulc, 24. Hložek – 60. Mikautadze. ŽK: Holeš, King, Chytil, Coufal, Kuchta – Dvali, Mikautadze, Lochosvhili, Kvaratskhelia, Kashia. Referee: Papapetrou – Petropoulos, Aptosoglou (all Greece).
Czechia: Kovář – Holeš, Jemelka, Bořil – Coufal, Cerv, Král, Černý (57. Provod) – Šulc (88. Kuchta), Kliment (57. Chytil), Hložek (73. Lingr). Coach: Ivan Hasek.
Georgia: Mamardashvili – Gvelesiani (36. Davitashvili), Kashia, Dvali – Kakabadze (79. Gocholeishvili), Chakvetadze (61. Zivzivadze), Kiteishvili (60. Mekvabishvili), Kochoraschvili, Lochoshvili – Kvaratskhelia, Mikautadze (79. Lobjanidze). Coach: Willy Sagnol.
| Order | The team | Matches | Wins | Ties | Losses | The score | Body |
| 1. | Czechia | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9:8 | 11 |
| 2. | Ukraine | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8:8 | 8 |
| 3. | Georgia | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7:6 | 7 |
| 4. | Albania | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4:6 | 7 |
