Czechs steamroll Slovakia in Olomouc

David Lafata struck twice early on as an inexperienced Czech Republic side cruised to a 3-0 friendly win against neighbours Slovakia in Olomouc.

FK Jablonec forward Lafata found the target twce inside the first six minutes, and Rosenborg BK midfielder Bořek Dočkal scored his first goal for his country as he made his international debut along with Tomáš Vaclík, Ladislav Krejčí, Michal Ordoš, Martin Pospíšil, Tomáš Hořava, Tomáš Kalas, Libor Kozák and Martin Latka.

With nine players injured and a number of regulars – including Petr Čech, Petr Jiráček and Tomáš Pekhart – not called up, Czech coach Michal Bílek took the opportunity to blood young talent, and received a swift reward as the unmarked Lafata got his head to Theodor Gebre Selassie's cross from the right to score after three minutes.

Last season's Czech league top scorer swiftly doubled his tally, with debutant Krejčí showing a great piece of skill to skip past Slovakia defender Peter Pekarík before delivering a ball from the left for Lafata to convert again. Lafata might have had a hat-trick by half-time, but his 32nd-minute volley flew just over the crossbar.

Captain Marek Hamšík passed up a decent chance to pull one back for Slovakia, and Miroslav Stoch volleyed wide before the break, but the Czechs were not to be thwarted. While Lafata's header after the interval missed the target, Dočkal got his name on the scoresheet on 73 minutes, striking midfielder Matěj Vydra's pull back first-time into the net.

It might have been 4-0, but Dušan Kuciak produced an excellent save seven minutes from the end to stop SK Slavia Praha defender Martin Latka scoring on his debut.