How did Czech players Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal perform in the Europa League semi-final rematch?

Czech national team players Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal were in the starting line-up for the expected EL semi-final against Eintracht Frankfurt. West Ham traveled to Germany for a difficult mission, which should ensure the Hammers’ qualification to the final of the second most prestigious European competition. How did it turn out and how did the Czech footballers fare?

West Ham arrived in Frankfurt with a one-goal deficit. Eintracht managed to rob the London Stadium in the opening game and take home a valuable 2-1 win. David Moyes’ charges had to win by at least one goal in the rematch to take the game to extra time.

The big complication for the Hammers came in the 17th minute of the match when Aaron Cresswell received a red card. The Hammers found themselves at a numerical disadvantage and this, of course, marked the rest of the match.

It got even worse 9 minutes later when home striker Rafael Borré scored. West Ham must have scored at least two goals at that point. Eintracht Frankfurt, however, kept the game close and did not score, although according to the xG (number of expected goals) the Hammers deserved at least a goal.

Stats of Vladimir Coufal and Tomáš Souček

As far as the individual performances of the Czech players are concerned, they did not do badly at all. Vladimír Coufal played 87 minutes and Tomáš Souček played the whole game. The right-back Coufal got a 6.73 rating from the prestigious WhoScored server and the defensive midfielder Souček got a 6.9 rating.

Vladimír Coufal had 48 touches of the ball during the match and his passing success rate was 71%. Offensively, the Czech international had one successful dribble and was fouled once. Defensively, he had very interesting numbers, winning the battle for the ball 3 times and intercepting the opponent’s pass 3 times.

Tomas Soucek had one less touch with the ball than Coufal (47) during the game. His pass success rate was 63% and he scored one successful dribble. The Czech national team captain was getting into the end zone, he shot 3 times, but unfortunately he didn’t aim between the three posts.

Soucek reigned in the air again! He won the most aerial duels on the field (8). As far as defensive numbers are concerned, he intercepted the opponent’s pass three times and kicked the ball out of the danger area once.

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