Czech Under-21s bow to Baysse winner
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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Czech Republic 0-1 France
Paul Baysse's header and an impressive display by goalkeeper Joris Delle ended the Under-21 finals contenders' 16-game unbeaten run.
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Czech Republic 0-1 France
The Czech Republic's 16-game unbeaten run came to an end in Olomouc as the UEFA European Under-21 Championship finalists went down to a Paul Baysse goal.
The Stade Brestois 29 defender got his head to Marvin Martin's free-kick on 28 minutes to bring to an end a run of six straight wins for Jakub Dovalil's side. The Czech Republic last lost an Under-21 game in England in October 2008, but were short-staffed for this friendly game, with five of their regulars drafted into the senior side.
With those five players featuring in the Czech Republic's 2-0 UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying win against Liechtenstein, Dovalil's patched-together side did their best but found France goalkeeper Joris Delle in fine form. The FC Metz custodian saved from Tomáš Hořava, Lukáš Mareček and Marcel Gecov.
France might have extended their lead when Sloan Privat got behind the Czech defence on 42 minutes, but he shot over. Home goalkeeper Marek Štěch then came to his side's rescue, saving from Martin at the death.
"Every run has to finish some day," said Dovalil. "In friendly games, it is better to lose against strong opponents than to get an easy win against a lesser side. We wanted to see some more players in action and in that respect we got what we were after."
