Tears in Stínadly. After the unsuccessful rematch with Portugal, players and fans cried

The sadness of the Czech female representatives | Video: Diary/František Bílek

“I have no words. The scenario from the previous unsuccessful barrage was repeated. I’m proud of that team. We got a goal from one set piece. We probably don’t want that. We do our best for it. We always get the strongest possible opponents and we are so unlucky. It’s unfair. The match was very difficult, we had the strength. Rather, we fell off the pace. The Portuguese women played it off expertly,” Svitková regretted another wasted chance for the Czech women’s soccer players to reach the prestigious final tournament.

The fact that the Czechs will not go to Switzerland to watch the Euros was decided by two unlucky moments. The first was an own goal by Dědinová, who knocked Marchaová’s cross into her own net in the 13th minute. The second important moment was Svitková’s great shot in the set-up, but the ball bounced off the crossbar not behind the goal line, but in front of it.

The unfortunate Svitková left Stínadl with tears in her eyes, the other players and the fans, who filled the stadium in a very solid number, were in tears. The atmosphere was fantastic in the North Bohemian city, but in the end it was Portugal that got the better of it.

Diana Silvová scored the decisive goal in the 76th minute after running behind the defense in the center after a standard situation. At that moment, the home team was running out of strength, but until then they played at least an even game with the favorites.

Everything could have been different if… Yes, that unfortunate shot by Kateřina Svitková. “At the same time, I hit it stupidly. It was by a few millimeters. They told me that the Portuguese goalkeeper was somehow leaking, she pulled it into the crossbar. Then the ball could have bounced off her into the net, but nothing. Nothing, just bad luck,” said the best Czech player overcome with emotions.

The coach of the Czech women’s national team Karel Rada, a former player of Teplice, by the way, was also sad. “We are very sorry. We got a goal from the set piece, we didn’t catch a single run. It’s a shame. We had chances too. The girls put a lot of heart into it, they fought it off, they pulled away. We are upset that we did not turn it in our favor. We had a great start to the second half, but we didn’t get anything out of it at 1:1. The Portuguese women then took advantage of our losses and got more into the game.”

Rada revealed that he will no longer lead the national football team. “I will not continue, my era is over. It needs to be oxygenated with new blood.”