SLICK SCHICK STRIKES SINK SCOTS
LEVERKUSEN STRIKER’S DOUBLE WHAMMY FIRES CZECHS AS SLOVAKIA DOWN POLAND
Scotland’s return to a major international tournament for the first time in over two decades ended in a 2-0 defeat yesterday thanks to an excellent double from the Czech Republic’s Patrik Schick.
The Scots, absent from showpiece summer events since the 1998 World Cup, were sunk by Bayer Leverkusen striker Schick in front of 12,000 fans at Hampden Park.
In St. Petersburg, Inter Milan defender Milan Skriniar fired Slovakia to a 2-1 victory over neighbours Poland in their opening game.
An own goal from Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny handed Slovakia the lead on 18 minutes, but Karol Linetty equalised for Poland right at the start of the second half.
Slovak winner
Poland were reduced to 10 men on the hour when midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak picked up a second yellow card, and Slovakia made their advantage count as Skriniar drove in the winner at a corner.
In Glasgow, Scotland started brightly but fell behind shortly before halftime as Schick headed home Vladimir Coufal’s cross.
There was even better to come from the 25-year-old Schick, as he struck a high, curling shot from just inside the Scotland half over the head of back-pedalling Scottish goalkeeper David Marshall and into the net.
“The ball bounced back, the goalkeeper was quite high, I took a look, I saw he was out there so I slammed it in,” said Schick.
Czech goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik made two important second-half saves from Scotland striker Lyndon Dykes as the hosts tried to force their way back into the game.
But there was no way through for Steve Clarke’s men, as the Czech Republic moved top of the early Group D table ahead of their game with Croatia at Hampden on Friday.
Big games ahead
“We want to advance, we are now facing the two favourites, sometimes you can get there on three points, but I think we’ll have to clinch one more to be sure,” said Czech Republic coach Jaroslav Silhavy.
The Scots will next face old rivals England, who made a successful start to their campaign with a 1-0 win over Croatia on Sunday, at Wembley on Friday.
“We need to take the experiences of today, learn from what happened and make a few little tweaks to our game,” said Scotland midfielder Stuart Armstrong.