The Czech Republic and Slovenia have qualified for EURO 2024. The Czechs only needed a draw in Olomouc against Moldova to win the European Championship ticket and convincingly succeeded in their mission: 3-0. David Dooudera took the lead after fifteen minutes. After the interruption, the home team took full advantage of the visitors’ red card thanks to goals from Tomás Chorý and Tomás Soucek. At the same time, Slovenia was not allowed to lose to Kazakhstan to book its European Championship ticket. The Kazakhs had to win to qualify, but lost: 2-1.
Czech Republic – Moldova 3-0
On the Czech Republic side, national coach Jaroslav Silhavý had a starting place for FC Twente midfielder Michal Sadílek, who stood next to West Ham player Soucek. Václav Cerný took a seat on the bench. In Moldova, the goals had to come from SC Heerenveen striker Ion Nicolaescu. He was supported at his back by four midfielders and five defenders.
Moldova knew they had to score at some point and started looking for the goal early on. The visitors came close in the fourth minute, if not for goalie Jindrich Stanek’s excellent save on Vadim Rata’s shot. The subsequent corner did not yield anything for Moldova.
The Czech Republic came into the match slightly better in the next phase. In the fourteenth minute, the Czechs proved razor-sharp in a counter-attack. Debutant Chorý gave well to Doudera, who was away and finished face to face with goalkeeper Dorian Railean with the outside right: 1-0. Doudera was fortunate that Moldova’s right back completely misjudged Chorý’s pass. Little happened in the remainder of the first half. The Czech Republic had difficulty getting out of the matches, while Moldova could not make a fist offensively.
Ten minutes after the break, the mission for Moldova became even more difficult. Vladyslav Baboglo took two yellow cards just after halftime, leaving the visitors with ten men facing an almost hopeless mission. Twenty minutes before the end, the Czech Republic put an end to all uncertainty. A corner kick from Vasil Kusej landed perfectly on the head of Chorý, who headed in convincingly at the first post: 2-0. Former Premier League player Vitalie Damascan came close, but saw his shot cleverly tapped over by Stanek. On the other hand, Soucek provided the icing on the cake by shooting from the edge of sixteen: 3-0.
Slovenia – Kazakhstan 2-1
The home country’s mission was clear prior to the match: get at least a point. In the event of a defeat, national coach Matjaz Kek’s team would miss out on the European Championship and see Kazakhstan go to the final tournament in Germany. Slovenia could have grabbed the European Championship ticket last weekend, if it had not lost to Denmark (2-1).
Both teams had opportunities to score the opening goal in the first half, but it was Slovenia that ultimately took the lead in the 41st minute. Benjamin Sesko, striker of RB Leipzig, took full advantage of a foul by Yan Vorogovskiy from the penalty spot and opened the score: 1-0.
However, Kazakhstan quickly put things in order and leveled the score three minutes after the break through Ramazan Orazov: 1-1. The visitors were therefore allowed to continue hoping for a stunt and European Championship qualification, but were disappointed five minutes before the end. Benjamin Verbic shot the score 2-1 on a pass from Petar Stojanovic and gave his country the victory. Thanks to the victory, Slovenia has qualified for the European Championship for the first time since 2000.