The players of coach Jan Suchopárek scored in Leuven in both halves. In the 34th minute, Adam Karabec was lucky to score, who was hit by the home goalkeeper during a kick-off. Substitute Daniel Fila added insurance after two minutes on the pitch in the 80th minute. The lion cubs are close to their third participation in the European Championship in a row, having been eliminated in the group on the previous two occasions.
“There will be some nervousness, it comes regularly. The first match went beyond expectations, not only in terms of results, but also in terms of gameplay, although there were a lot of inaccuracies that arose from a certain fear against a stronger opponent. The overall performance shows that the team is solidly prepared,” said Suchopárek.
He called the last step the most difficult. “We have a lead, but the result can be very misleading. Belgium’s results away from home are alarming, we have to be vigilant and be at least as effective as in the first match,” said the 55-year-old European vice-champion from 1996.
Belgium won four of their five away matches in the qualifying group, losing only in Spain. The Czech youngsters have a 100% record in the Malšovice Arena, in the three games so far they have celebrated victory there every time.
“Hopefully we will build on Spain and beat Belgium at home as well. We have shown that we can play with them. We should put the result out of our heads and play as if the tie was about one game,” said captain and forward Václav Sejk.
Slovakia will host the championship next year from June 11 to 28. 13 of the 16 participants are known, the last three will emerge from the playoffs. The Czech twenty-first team has played against Belgium eight times so far and has a favorable record with them of five wins, one draw and two defeats with an active score of 15:5.
“It’s a new match, it starts 0:0. We can have a lead towards the end of the match in our heads, but from the beginning we will go into it like in the first match. We will want to win. The lead is more comfortable, the result is great. I think that our fans will lead to the fact that we will be concentrated throughout the match. We will want to give them the joy of victory,” said defender and midfielder Jaroslav Harušťák.
