The Czech Republic held off Greece to record a 2-1 win in Wroclaw on Tuesday, kick-starting their Euro 2012 Group A campaign.
After going down 4-1 to Russia in their opening match last Friday, the Czechs were out to make amends against Greece. And they made a flying start to the contest at Stadion Miejski, with two goals in the first six minutes from Petr Jiracek and Vaclav Pilar.
Jiracek collected a through ball and beat the offside trap to score three minutes from kick-off, the fourth fastest goal in the history of the European Championships. The Greek cause was not helped by the loss of goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias to injury on 22 minutes, he was replaced by Michalis Sifakis.
Greece thought it had pulled a goal with five minutes remaining before half-time, but Giorgios Fotakis’ header was ruled out for offside.
They did succeed in getting one back seven minutes into the second half, substitute Theofanis Gekas benefiting from Petr Cech’s fumble to make it 2-1. But Fernando Santos’ men proved unable to breach the opposition defence a second time, as the Czech Republic registered their first points in the tournament.
What this score means
The Czechs stay alive in Group A and the Greeks are done after one more game. It won’t be easy for the Czech Republic which will have to contend against a tough Polish side in its final group match.
The winning goal
It was a hard-rough goal for Pilar that put the Czech Republic in front 2-0 before the game was barely six minutes old. Pilar muscled his way through two Greece players and struck enough of the ball while falling to the ground.
Man of the match
Aside from scoring the opening goal, Jiracek controlled most of the Czech Republic offensive, creating other chances with ball possession.
Greece: Kostas Chalkias (Michalis Sifakis 23) – Vassilis Torosidis, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Konstantinos Katsouranis, Jose Holebas – Giorgos Fotakis (Fanis Gekas 46), Giannis Maniatis, Giorgos Karagounis (capt) – Dimitrios Salpingidis, Giorgios Samaras, Kostas Fortounis (Kostas Mitroglou 71).
Czech Republic: Petr Cech – Theodor Gebre Selassie, Tomas Sivok, Michal Kadlec, David Limbersky – Petr Jiracek, Tomas Hubschman, Tomas Rosicky (capt) (Daniel Kolar 46, Frantisek Rajtoral 90), Jaroslav Plasil, Vaclav Pilar – Milan Baros (Tomas Pekhart 64).
Yellow cards: Torosidis (34), Papadopoulos (56), Salpingidis (57); Rosicky (27), Jiracek (36), Kolar (66).
Referee: Stephane Lannoy (France).
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