Bilek’s young guns eliminated by ice cool Emirates
The Czech Republic’s UAE International Cup adventure ended in disappointment as they were stunned on penalties by tournament hosts United Arab Emirates.
New manager Michal Bilek, who is the fourth coach the Czechs have had in the last year, replaced Ivan Hasek at the helm after the latter had failed to guide the team to the 2010 World Cup. He watched on with assistant Vladimir Smicer as his young squad were eliminated from the penalty spot.
Michel Bilek is putting his faith in youngsters
Bilek arrived in the UAE with a largely inexperienced squad which included five newcomers, and it’s clear that he has one eye on building for the future. “We are looking at the future and this tournament is an excellent platform on which to start blood to the youngsters,” said Bilek before the match before claiming: “When you have young players fighting for a regular place in the national team, it generally brings out the best in them. The UAE, we heard, are on the same mission as we are. They are also blooding youngsters and we hope it will be a good contest. Obviously we are here to win this tournament.”
Although it’s early days if the above is true then it must be said that the future looks brighter for the hosts of the cup, who will go on to face Iraq in Wednesday’s final who triumped 1-0 over Azerbaijan earlier in the day.
UAE goalkeeper Majed Naser was the hero of the day after two saves in the penalty shoot out which, along with David Rozehnal’s miss, secured the host’s place in the final. Neither team was able break the deadlock during normal time despite a number of chances which were all dealt with by Naser and his opposite number Jaroslav Drobny.
Majed Nasar was the United Arab Emirates’ hero…
Perhaps this result would have been much more of a shock if the Emirates didn’t go into the fixture on the back of an unexpected confidence boosting 1-0 victory over Manchester City earlier in the week, but nothing should be taken away from the result. Srecko Katanec’s team were on the back foot for a lot of the first half but their resilient defence proved themselves to be more than a match for their more illustrious opponents who carved out a couple of chances.
The Czechs tried to use their superior height and pace to their advantage and it almost paid off as early as the sixth minute when captain Rozehnal nodded just wide from a free kick. Adam Hlousek and Roman Hubnik also wasted good chances to gain the initiative.
More chances were few and far between and the match always looked destined to be a stalemate. A couple more openings arrived but neither team really looked like scoring, although Mahmoud Khamis wasted a good chance to put the hosts ahead after tamely heading into Drobny’s hands from eight yards.
…Whilst David Rozehnal was the Czech’s villain
Unsurprisingly the match headed to spot kicks. It really did seem like neither team wanted to score as Rozehnal and and Salem Abdulla were both off target with the opening penalties. However Yousef Jaber, Hamdan al Kamali and Amer Abdulrahman all converted from 12 yards whilst Naser managed to keep out another two efforts, giving the UAE a 3-2 victory on penalties and booking their place against Iraq. The win also ensured that head coach Srecko Katanec remained unbeaten after four games in charge.
Neither team was able > were able (I think)
Your picture caption painted David Rozehnal as the villain, but your article needed to go in to more detail about his missed header, as I struggled to make the connection as to what he had done. Yes you say he missed his country’s first penalty, but then the UAE missed their first one too.
Your article was an interesting, well put together read. I felt like I learned a lot about the game, which is what it is all about.