Czechoslovakia vs. Scotland. A match for everything, or the Czechoslovak national team’s journey to the 1962 World Championship in Chile

In a few days, the Czech national team players will face a very difficult test in the form of a barrage match in Sweden, then in Poland if they win. The journey of the 1962 Czechoslovak vice-world champions to the final tournament in Chile was not easy either.

Qualification for the World Cup in Chile took place in 1961, when the Czechoslovak team was drawn in a group of three with Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Within the qualifying group, Czechoslovakia defeated Northern Ireland twice (away 3: 1, home 7: 1). Before that, however, Czechoslovakia had started the qualification with a convincing 4-0 win over Scotland in Bratislava, with goals from Tomas Pospíchal, Andrej Kvasňák on penalties, Josef Kadraba and Pospíchal again.

However, the subsequent rematch in Scotland did not go so well for the Czechoslovak team as they left Glasgow defeated 3: 2 (scorers: St. John, 2x Law; Kvašňák, Scherer).The Czechoslovaks led for most of the match, but eventually the Scots, thanks to Manchester City striker Denis Law, first equalised in the 62nd minute and then about twenty minutes later completed the turnaround.

The decisive third game

As the Scots had also beaten the Northern Ireland footballers in both matches, they shared first place with the Czechoslovakians. The match on neutral ground was therefore to decide the progress of one of the two teams.

The match was eventually held at the Belgian Heysel Stadium in Brussels on 29 November 1961. However, the Czechoslovak team had to face the inconvenience of bad weather in Belgium before the decisive match, which was pointed out by the reporters of Rudy Pravo: “The Czechoslovak national team could not train at the Heysel Stadium on Monday morning […] so as not to damage the playing surface. It has been raining in Brussels for two days. The Czechoslovak players were therefore preparing in the gym.”

In the match itself, in front of about six thousand spectators, the first half went better for the Scots. From the 38th minute onwards, the Czechoslovaks were 0:1 down thanks to Liverpool striker Ian St. John. After an embarrassing goal in the dressing room, the Czechoslovak team shook off the second half in the 70th minute thanks to an equalising goal by Jiri Hledik, a Spartak Hradec Králové player.

However, a minute later the Czechoslovak eleven was again trailing when St. John scored again. The Czechoslovak team was finally saved in the 80th minute by Bratislava’s Adolf Scherer when he equalised at 2:2.

The regular season did not solve the promotion puzzle in Brussels. Extra time followed. At that time, the game was not yet decided by a penalty shootout (after a draw in extra time, a replay or coin toss followed).

In the extra time, the Czechoslovakian players had more strength when in the 95th minute they took the lead thanks to Tomas Pospischal, at that time a player of Baník Ostrava. Andrej Kvašňák sealed the victory of the Czechoslovak national team in the 111th minute. The Czechoslovak team of coach Rudolf Vytlačil, despite the bad weather, won in the end in a thrilling match by all 4::2.

The following year, at the final tournament of the World Cup in Chile, the Czechoslovak footballers reached the final. Will the current team around Tomáš Souček be able to emulate the Chilean team and advance to the championship in Qatar?

Team line-ups in the Czechoslovakia-Scotland match (29 November 1961):

Czechoslovakia:: Viliam Schrojf, Ján Popluhár, Jiří Tichý, Jiří Hledík, Svatopluk Pluskal, Josef Masopust, Tomáš Pospíchal, Andrej Kvašňák, Rudolf Kučera, Josef Jelínek, Adolf Scherer; Coach:: Rudolf Vytlačil

Scotland: Eddie Connachan, Ian Ure, Eric Caldow, Alex Hamilton, John White, Jim Baxter, Hugh Robertson, Pat Crerand, Ralph Brand, Denis Law, Ian St. John; Coach: Ian McColl

Source: Red Law, Transfermarkt, Wikipedia, Slovak Football Association