Czech debut hero gives England wake-up call

CZECH REPUBLIC ....... 2 ENGLAND ....... 1

ENGLAND were stunned by their first qualifying defeat in a decade as debutant Zdenek Ondrasek gave the Czechs a deserved victory against Gareth Southgate’s stuttering side.

The Three Lions arrived in Prague knowing victory would assure progress to the Euro 2020 finals with three matches to spare.

And few supporters down south expected anything other than an away triumph given the 5-0 shellacking handed out to their rivals at Wembley in March’s Group A opener.

Expectation grew with Harry Kane’s early spot-kick, only for Jakub Brabec to quickly bring the home side level and provide the platform for substitute Ondrasek to punish a ponderous England performance and seal a shock win.

It ended a 43-match unbeaten run in Euro and World Cup qualifying matches stretching back to a 1-0 loss in Ukraine in October 2009 – and was a result that Southgate’s men could hardly argue with.

After Kane opened the scoring in the fifth minute, England looked lacklustre in attack and susceptible at the back as the alarming defending in last month’s 5-3 win against Kosovo was repeated.

Brabec was all too easily able to level from a ninth-minute corner as the Czechs played with confidence throughout the first half and kicked on after the break at a bouncing Sinobo Stadium.

Keeper Jordan Pickford was having a far busier night in Prague than he would have expected and was beaten five minutes from time by Ondrasek – with his sixth touch in international football.

England can still qualify on Monday if they beat Bulgaria and Kosovo do not beat Montenegro.

Boss Southgate cut a lonely, worried figure on the touchline and afterwards admitted this was one hell of a wake-up call for his side.

He said: “We have had a lot of credit over the last couple of years and this time we did not do enough.

“Our performance was not good enough, it’s as simple as that. The goals we conceded were typical of the chances we gave away.

“Collectively we have to accept there were not enough good performances. We tried to change the shape which was not working, we started the second half much better and we had good chances to win the game.

“We conceded too many poor chances out there and we gave the ball away too many times.

“We knew we’d have to be at full tilt to deal with the Czech Republic but we should have been strong enough to deal with them.” It was a sloppy England performance. Maybe they have believed too much of their own hype and got carried away dreaming about next summer.

Their players were already taking about winning the trophy at Wembley.

Well, they can stop dreaming now and start waking up to the reality that you are never going to win tournaments defending like a bunch of haddies.

The English were out of the blocks at lightning speed and their first proper attack resulted in a fifth-minute lead. Mason Mount, making his first start in midfield, fed Kane and England’s top scorer released Raheem Sterling with a brilliant first-time pass.

Sterling burst into the box, checked back inside and was tripped by Czech defender Lukas Masopust. It was a clear penalty and Kane made no mistake to score his 27th goal in 42 caps.

The Czechs levelled from a corner after nine minutes. Declan Rice slipped, Ondrej Celustka swiped at the ball, Michael Keane was caught ball-watching and Brabec bundled home.

England were overrun in midfield and with five minutes left Masopust put over a cross that Ondrasek fired in.

Southgate’s captain Kane said: “The defeat was down to us.

“It was a perfect start to an away game. We were sloppy with the ball, we didn’t move it as quickly as we normally do.

“The second half was better, we had a couple of chances to put the game to bed and we didn’t then unfortunately we gave one away at the end.

“It’s a bit of a wake-up call but there’s no need to panic.”

(3pm unless stated) SKY BET LEAGUE ONE (1) Blackpool v Rotherham .................. (2) Bristol Rovers v MK Dons .............. (5) Oxford v Doncaster ....................... (6) Peterborough v Lincoln ................. (-) Portsmouth v Gillingham ............... (7) Rochdale v Accrington .................. (8) Southend v Wimbledon ..................

SKY BET LEAGUE TWO (9) Carlisle v Crewe ............................. (11) Crawley v Colchester .................... (12) Exeter v Forest Green .................. (13) Leyton Orient v Walsall ................ (14) Macclesfield v Port Vale .............. (15) Mansfield v Oldham ...................... (16) Morecambe v Bradford ................ (17) Salford v Cambridge ..................... (18) Scunthorpe v Northampton ......... (19) Stevenage v Grimsby ................... (20) Swindon v Plymouth ....................

VANARAMA PREMIER (21) Aldershot v Hartlepool ................ (-) Barnet v Woking ............................. (22) Barrow v Dover ............................ (23) Eastleigh v Chorley ..................... (24) Ebbsfleet v Maidenhead .............. (25) Fylde v Sutton ............................. (26) Halifax v Boreham Wood ............. (27) Notts County v Torquay .............. (28) Solihull v Bromley ....................... (29) Stockport v Dag & Red ................ (30) Wrexham v Chesterfield ........... P (31) Yeovil v Harrogate .......................

VANARAMA NORTH (32) Darlington v Boston .................... EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

QUALIFYING GROUP D (36) Denmark v Switzerland .......... 5.0 (39) Georgia v Rep of Ireland ........ 2.0

GROUP F (38) Faroe Isles v Romania ............ 5.0 (44)MaltavSweden .................... 7.45 (45) Norway v Spain ..................... 7.45

GROUP J (34) Bosnia-Herz v Finland ............ 5.0 (41) Italy v Greece ........................ 7.45 (43) Liechtenstein v Armenia ...... 7.45 TUNNOCK’S CHALLENGE CUP (-) Airdrie v Elgin ................................ (-) Arbroath v Clyde ............................ (-) Inverness v Alloa ............................ (-) Partick Th v Connah’s Quay .... 5.15 (-) Raith Rovers v Glenavon ................ (-) Wrexham v St Mirren U21 ...............

JOHN CROSS IN PRAGUE

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING GROUP C (33) Belarus v Holland ................... 5.0 (37) Estonia v Germany ............... 7.45 GROUP G (46) Poland v N Macedonia .......... 7.45 (48) Slovenia v Austria ................ 7.45 GROUP E (40) Hungary v Azerbaijan ............ 5.0 (49) Wales v Croatia .................... 7.45 GROUP I (35) Cyprus v Russia ...................... 5.0 (42) Kazakhstan v Belgium ........... 2.0 (47) Scotland v San Marino ............ 5.0 SKY BET LEAGUE ONE (-) Coventry v Tranmere .............. 12.0