The Czech Republic won its first game at the European Championship on Monday afternoon. The team of national coach Steve Clarke was 0-2 too strong for Scotland at Hampden Park. Patrick Schick was the absolute star on the side of the Czechs. The Bayer Leverkusen striker took both hits, the second of which was of great beauty. From more than forty meters he outwitted goalkeeper David Marshall. Schick is now joint top scorer at the European Championship with Romelu Lukaku with two goals.
Supported by the crowd, Scotland started the game strongly. Clarke did, however, have to deal with a big downer prior to the match, as fixed value Kieran Tierney was not fit enough to appear at the kick-off. After fifteen minutes of play, Schick appeared dangerously in front of Marshall’s goal for the first time. The attacker tried with a left-handed shot into the short corner, but had to watch as the Scotland goalie got in the way. On the other hand, a cross from Andy Robertson was just missed by Lyndon Dykes at the near post.
The game went up and down in an attractive first half. Robertson was given plenty of time and space to fire on Tomás Vaclík’s goal from a promising position, but the Czech goalkeeper narrowly saved the Liverpool defender’s shot. On the stroke of half-time, it was on the other side of the field. Vladimír Coufal took care of the preparatory work on the right side of the field and put the leather on Schick’s head, after which the latter found the left corner with a nice headbutt: 1-0.
Scotland screamed for a penalty twice in the first act, but both times were not heard by referee Daniel Siebert. Barely on the way in the second half, Schick took care of the most beautiful goal of the European Championship so far. The attacker accidentally got the ball in the barrel and made an effective strike just over the halfway line with the left over the outgoing Marshall. The goal, measured at 45.4 metres, was the furthest goal scored in a European Championship since 1980.
The Czech Republic came out of the dressing room significantly better and seemed quickly on their way to an even wider lead via Vladimír Darida, but the shot from the Hertha BSC midfielder went just over the right crossroads. Scotland was certainly not invisible, but did short itself in the completion. A shot by Stuart Armstrong via Tomás Kalas ended up on the roof of the goal and an attempt by Lyndon Dykes was only just stopped by Vaclík. And so the Czech Republic held out quite easily. With the win, the Czech Republic is provisionally in the lead in Group D. England, which won 1-0 against Croatia on Sunday, follows as number two.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Czech Republic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | England | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Croatia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Scotland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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