GARETH GETS A REALITY CZECH!
First qualification loss for England in a decade as hosts hit late winner
ENGLAND last night slumped to their first qualifying defeat in ten years as Czech Republic substitute Zdenek Ondrasek hit them with a late sucker punch.
Gareth Southgate’s men looked to be on their way to the victory that would have sealed their passage to Euro 2020 when captain Harry Kane scored an early penalty.
But a slack performance was duly punished when Jakub Brabec equalised minutes later. And a night of misery was completed for England when FC Dallas player Ondrasek — stepping off the bench to make his debut at the age of 30 — scored in the 85th minute.
Southgate ordered his men to muster an immediate response against Bulgaria on Monday after admitting his side were dealt a deserved reality check in Prague.
‘In terms of a wake-up call it showed us there is a lot of work to be done to be a really top team — tonight was clear evidence of that,’ said the head coach.
‘Clearly that is not a night we wanted to be part of. We did not play well enough, we conceded possession too cheaply, we did not create chances, we did not take good chances and we were too open out of possession. We gave the ball away.
‘We have to respond in the right way, we have a couple of days to prepare and we have to reward our supporters with a better performance. There were not many positives.
‘It is going to be an interesting couple of days because we have not had a result like that or a performance like that and we will learn a lot about ourselves over the next 48 to 72 hours.’
England hadn’t lost a qualifier since their defeat to Ukraine in 2009. An unbeaten record in qualifying going back 43 games was left in the dust.
In truth, they were too slow, too predictable and too easy to play against here in Prague.
Given a nice start by Kane’s penalty in the fifth minute, England withdrew to such an extent that they did not manage another shot on goal until the second half. By that time, the Czechs were level through Brabec and should have been ahead.
Southgate’s team did not press the ball and allowed the home side to dictate the pace and intensity of the game. It meant precious little was seen of Mason Mount on his debut or, indeed, young Jadon Sancho.
A draw would not have been a bad result for England given the nature of the game. But the Czechs finally blew England’s house down with five minutes left when Ondrasek was left unmarked to score from ten yards.
England had celebrated Kane’s early penalty almost casually. This is a team who have become used to scoring early goals.
Here, they scored on the back of their very first attack. Mount fed Kane down the left and when the England skipper slid the ball beyond the opposition defensive line to play Raheem Sterling in, he drew a foul from Lukas Masopust as he turned back inside on to his right foot.
It was a clear foul and Kane scored simply from the penalty spot, placing the ball down the middle as the goalkeeper moved early.
Kane’s 27th England goal was celebrated with a gentle pump of his fist. More goals were expected to follow quickly from Southgate’s free-scoring team.
On this occasion, though, they did not kick on. Having beaten the Czechs 5-0 at Wembley in March, maybe England thought they would roll over. It didn’t happen.
The hosts were the team to respond to the early goal while England lost their way. Southgate’s side were too passive, too slow and across the back, they looked unsure.
The Jordan Pickford-Harry Maguire-Michael Keane axis was not one to inspire confidence.
But that was not the only problem here for England. The home players were able to find space between England’s holding players Jordan Henderson and Declan Rice and the back four far too easily.
For a spell of about 20 minutes, Jan Boril was able to roam forward and cause England problems almost at will. And he was playing at left-back.
The equaliser arrived almost immediately after Kane’s opener. Pickford made a flying save to deny Vladimir Coufal and from the corner nobody took control as the ball went all the way to the back post where Brabec scored from close range.
Back in the game so soon, Czech hearts swelled and confidence grew. For a time they were just too good for England and would have led had they chosen some of their final passes a little better.
In truth, Pickford’s goal was not seriously threatened. The Everton goalkeeper saved routinely from Boril and from a Patrik Schick header, while two crosses passed dangerously in front of him with nobody in position to convert.
That said, all the dangerous football was being played in the England half. Southgate’s forward players were not pressing the ball anywhere near high enough.
England did not manage another shot on target after the penalty — which was probably why Southgate tweaked his formation to a 4-3-3 at the break.
This did, at least, serve to give England a little more possession and with that came an increased threat. Kane cleverly played Sterling through just before the hour only for goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik to take the ball off the Manchester City player’s toe.
At the other end, meanwhile, Masopust’s long-range shot was struck well enough to bring a decent save from Pickford.
The Czechs also continued to threaten from set-pieces. For a tall team, England can look a little vulnerable in the air.
Southgate chose to chase the game through substitutions, Ross Barkley and Marcus Rashford being introduced for Mount and Sancho.
Kane had a golden chance to score his second after a brilliant pass by Barkley but he was forced wide by keeper Vaclik, who then blocked the Tottenham star’s shot.
Ondrasek climbed off the bench and scored an unexpected winner with five minutes left to play.
Kane insisted England must remain calm despite the loss. ‘We’ll regroup, there’s no panic,’ said the Spurs star. ‘We weren’t fighting and pressing as much as we normally do. Unfortunately, we gave one away at the end.’
CZECH REPUBLIC (4-4-2): Vaclik; Coufal, Celustka, Brabec, Boril; Soucek, Kral, Masopust (Zmrhal, 90), Darida; Jankto (Kopic 83), Schick (Ondrasek 65). Subs not used: Husbauer, Kalvach, Krejci, Pavlenka, Reznik, Simic, Kudela, Krmencik, Kolar. Booked: Jankto. ENGLAND (4-3-3): Pickford; Trippier, Keane, Maguire, Rose; Jordan Henderson, Rice (Abraham 88), Sancho (Rashford 73); Mount (Barkley 72), Sterling, Kane. Subs not used: Winks, Mings, D Henderson, Tomori, Chilwell, Gomez, Pope, Alexander-Arnold. Booked: Rose, Sterling, J. Henderson. Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia).