What did the Czech Republic and Belarus show? A frustrated Soucek, Sadilek asked for more space

The Czech national team managed to win the World Cup qualification match on Monday and after a 2:0 win over Belarus still has a chance to qualify for the barrage from the second place. What did the game in Kazan, Russia, show for the future?

The skilful scorpion Sadilek

Alex Kral was the subject of an avalanche of criticism after the 2-2 draw with Wales. He failed to replace the injured Tomas Holes and, as expected, did not fit into the starting line-up in Kazan.

Michal Sadilek did much better in his position. Here and there he was unnecessarily tough, on the other hand he gave the game an idea and a bit overshadowed the performance of the ailing Tomas Soucek. The icing on the cake is a great assist on Patrik Schick’s goal.

Slow transition to attack

Slow transition to the attack is not a novelty for the Czech national team, but against mediocre Belarus it is not expected at all. Particularly in the first half, the crowd witnessed several promising actions, which eventually ended when one of the players turned and gave the ball back to one of the stoppers.

Jakub Pesek was the only exception with a few bright moments. The Sparta winger (as is his wont) was not afraid of one-on-one battles, but he did not choose appropriate solutions in the final stages. He often lacked support from the left side to defend.

Souček, who was struggling

Tomas Soucek hasn’t been in the form we’re used to from the start of the new season. He unfortunately brought it from the club scene to the national team meeting, after Wales, his match against Belarus also went wrong.

It’s hard to write something like that about the hard worker that Tomas is, but it seems like he didn’t enjoy the game at all. He was slow to come back after losing the ball a few times, and blew two nascent chances late on. His totally inaccurate pass in the 82nd minute was particularly glaring.

In Soucek’s defense, it is necessary to mention his nice through pass at the beginning of the second half, after which Pesek could have scored the second goal of the match.

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