Czech team played England a man down after Šulc red card

The Czech national football team met England and suffered a defeat, playing more than an hour a man down after Pavel Šulc was sent off in the 25th minute. Every starter was rated on a school-style scale from 1 (best) to 5 (worst) after the match — goalkeeper Matěj Kovář, captain Ladislav Krejčí and midfielder Adam Hložek led the way with solid 2s, while Šulc himself earned the match’s worst grade, a 5.

Šulc missed twice and saw red

The attacking midfielder had two chances to open the scoring: first he took too long controlling the ball and didn’t even get a shot away, and the second time, instead of passing to an unmarked Adam Hložek, he chose to shoot and was blocked by defenders. In the 25th minute Šulc fouled Elliot Anderson and was shown a straight red card — the Czech team was left a man down for almost an hour of play. That earned him the match’s worst grade, a 5.

A mistake by Červ and a deflection off the captain led to the goals

Lukáš Červ, a surprise inclusion in the starting eleven, initially made people forget his dull display against Croatia: he had a dangerous shot and won the ball back with strong pressing ahead of Šulc’s second chance. But near the opposing goal Červ made a mistake in possession — after losing the ball, England quickly launched a counterattack, and defender Robin Hranáč couldn’t react in time to a cross from the flank by Trent Alexander-Arnold: England took the lead. It soon became 0:2 — the ball deflected off captain Ladislav Krejčí straight into the path of Harry Kane, with the captain, through an unfortunate twist of fate, setting the ball up for England’s best forward to finish.

In the 60th minute Krejčí almost scored an own goal, hitting the post, but otherwise the captain had a calm, virtually error-free match, especially in aerial duels with Kane.

Kovář, Krejčí and Hložek prevented a rout

Goalkeeper Matěj Kovář was not at fault for either goal and pulled off several difficult saves: at the end of the first half he dealt with a shot from Harry Kane, and later made a spectacular save from a strike by Eberechi Eze. Midfielder Adam Hložek, despite playing a man down, kept his physical and technical edge, drove attacks forward and remained dangerous even with ten men. Defender Jiří Sláma selflessly blocked a shot from Bukayo Saka aimed at an empty net, though because of his defensive workload he barely had time to join attacks, unlike in the match against Croatia.

Everyone else found playing a man down tough going

Defender Štěpán Chaloupek went into brave sliding tackles but largely failed to contain Anthony Gordon — arguably England’s best player on the pitch. Michal Sadílek did well to stop an early England counterattack in the first half, but after the sending-off, like his teammates, he struggled badly. Matěj Radosta confidently won his running duels with Hall and didn’t let the team down going forward, though it was through his flank that England created most of their threat before the red card. Adam Karabec again played on his unfamiliar left flank, swapped positions with Radosta after the 20th minute, and was unluckily injured just before half-time and substituted.

Ondřej Lingr, who came on for Karabec right before the break, managed to create several bright attacking moments. Lukáš Ambros tried hard and had one interesting moment in the box, but couldn’t achieve much more. Alex Král, who replaced Sadílek in midfield, couldn’t maintain the team’s previous level in the centre of the park — after his inaccurate pass, the visitors almost sent Jude Bellingham through one-on-one, though Král himself wasn’t at fault for either goal conceded. Daniel Vašulín and Roman Macek got too little playing time to be rated.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz