The Czech national team won 2:1 in a friendly match in Norway during the premiere of veteran coach Ivan Hašek, who already coached five duels of the national team in 2009. The home side were the more active team at first, which resulted in the opening goal from Manchester City’s talented striker Oscar Bobb. However, the visiting team equalized before the half-time break, when David Zima scored his first international goal thanks to an accurate header. After the change of sides, the players with the lioness on their chests survived several promising opportunities of the Northerners, whose poor efficiency was punished in the 85th minute with a beautiful free kick by Antonín Barák, who wore the jersey of the national team after almost a year.
The era of coach Hašek began with a spicy nomination, in which a number of newcomers appeared and a trio of experienced representatives were absent, which paid the price for the violation of internal rules before the qualifying match with Moldova. On the other hand, for the first time since September 2022, Patrik Schick was not missing, as he immediately started in the starting line-up against Norway. It had to recover from another disappointment when, despite a pair of generational talents in the team, it failed to make it to the Euros again.
The first innovation introduced by Hašek’s implementation team was the return to a four-man defense. She had a lot to turn from the beginning, and although she survived Erling Haaland’s dangerous attempt, she capitulated in the 20th minute from the boot of another Manchester City forward, Bobbo. The only 20-year-old striker toyed with the Czechs’ newly composed left side and fired a shot past Jindřich Staňko at the near post. Patrik Schick could have equalized in a flash, but his prompt stop of Lukáš Provod’s shot was neutralized by Örjan Nyland. Unexpected cooperation from the 37th minute led to overcoming the goalkeeper of Sevilla, when a cross from the right side by captain Tomáš Souček ran up to the border of the small goal area and hit the net with his head.
Haaland presented himself with the same type of finish after the change of sides, but his effort ended only with a valuable entry in the statistics of Staňko, who performed a wonderful reflexive save. Although the second half optically belonged to the home team, the following dangerous action saw representatives from the center of Europe. A quick interplay between Schick and Barák resulted in a sharp boost for substitute Ondřej Lingro, but he sent the ball high over the goal. The famous joker rushed to an even better position about five minutes before the end of regular time, but the defender fouled him in front of the penalty area. The returnee to the national team, Barák, faced the standard situation from an ideal position and decided the match with a fantastic shot into the upper left corner.
The first duel under the leadership of the new implementation team brought a Czech victory. The second one is scheduled for March 26 against Armenia, Norway will welcome Slovakia on the same day.
Tags: Friendly matches international report statistics match Norway
