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 DECEMBER 18, 1997 |
S P O R T R E V I E W |
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[ December 8 ] [ December 4 ] By Peter SmithStarting with the football, and the Czech Republic advanced to the semi-finals of the FIFA Confederation Cup in Saudi Arabia after a 6-1 victory over The United Arab Emirates. The result was enough for the Czechs to clinch second place in the four team group and set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with the reigning World Champions Brazil this weekend. The three man attack was the key as the team set out for goals against the unfancied Emirates, but they had to wait for an own-goal by Emirates midfielder Mohamed Obaid to set them off on the spree to come. Pavel Nedved increased the lead in the 22nd minute and then before Vladimir Smicer grabbed the first of his hattrick after. Nedved scored the fourth goal shortly before half time. In the second half, Smicer scored twice more in the second half before a defensive mistake by the Czechs allowed Emirates captain Adnan Al-Talyani a consolation goal in the 78th minute. The Czech Republic began their campaign with a 2-2 draw against South Africa last weekend. In their second group match, they fell to a 2-1 defeat to the eventual group winners, Uruguay. The Uruguayan team contained seven players from their under-20s team which finished runners-up at this year's World championship - a decision taken after the failure of the first 11 to qualify for the World Cup Finals in France next summer. The youthful attack of Nicholas Olivera and Marcelo Zalayeta made a great impression against the Czech team, and it was Olivera who opened the scoring for the South American team in the 25th minute, with a shot from the edge of the area. The Czechs didn't help their cause with the sending off Manchester United player, Karel Poborsky just before half-time. The player was adjudged to have kicked Olivera while the Uruguayan lay prostrate on the floor, a decision which Czech national coach, Dusan Uhrin said later changed the course of the game. Uruaguay finally increased their lead thanks to Zalayeta two minutes from time before Horst Siegl got a consolation goal deep in injury time. And reports this week have suggested that the national coach, Dusan Uhrin, could step down from the post after the conclusion of the Confederation Cup this weekend. Uhrin, the man that led the side to the final of The European Championships in England in 1996, was apparently deeply disappointed by the failure of The Czech Republic to qualify for next years World Cup Finals in France. Staying with football and the draw for the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup, which was made in Geneva on Wednesday. Slavia Prague, the sole remaining Czech representative in the European Club competitions, were drawn against the German side, VFB Stuttgart. The first leg will be played in Prague on the 5th March with the return leg in Germany on March 19th. In the competitions other ties, Roda JC Kerkrade (Netherlands) will play Vincenza of Italy, AEK Athens of Greece will play Lokomotiv Moscow of Russia and Real Betis of Spain will play the English Cup Winners, Chelsea. In the draw for the Quarter-Finals of the other competitions, in the Champions League Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) will play Real Madrid (Spain) Juventus (Italy) play Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine) Bayern Munich (Ger) play Borussia Dortmond (Ger) Monaco (Fra) play Manchester United (Eng) In the UEFA Cup: Inter Milan (Ita) will Schalke 04 (Ger) in a repeat of last years final. Ajax Amsterdam (Holland) will play Spartak Moscow (Russia) Lazio (Italy) will play Auxerre (France) Athletico Madrid (Spain) will play Aston Villa (England) Now onto hockey, and in Moscow Thursday night, the Czech Republic and Sweden battled out an exciting 6-6 draw in the second round matches of the Baltika Cup. The deluge of goals came in the first period, with goals from Vykoukal, Prochazka, Belohlav, Moravec sending the Czechs in 4-3 ahead. However, in the second period, the Swedes fought back to take a 6-5 lead before Dopita snatched an equaliser 1 minute from time. In the other group match, the hosts Russia overcame Finland by two goals to one. In the first round of group matches, The Czech Republic and Finland fought out a 4-4 draw, with the Czech goals coming from Hejduk, Alinc, Patera and Moravec. Varvio (twice), Ruuttu and Saarinen relied for the Finns. In the other group match, Russia and Sweden served up a drab goalless draw. Now the results of the latest First Division matches. Havlickuv Brod 3 Olomouc 0 Prostejov 4 Znojmo 1 Trebic 4 Beroun 2 Jindrichuv Hradec 3 Prerov 0 Kralupy 3 Havirov 5 Chomutov 5 Brno 5 Pisek 3 Liberec 2 So, despite their 4-1 at Prostejev defeat, Znojmo remain top of the league, three points clear of Liberec. Beroun slip down to fifth after their 4-2 defeat at Trebic. Now a few of the international sports stories making the headlines: FOOTBALL: A leading Belgian professor has decided to go to court over what he views as agents and clubs regarding their players as "SLAVES". Professor Roger Blanpain is quoted as saying that "This sort of slave trade in which someone is bought cheeply and sold expensive.. totally violates the basic principle that people are not merchandise and labour is not a merchandise, and this has to be challenged in a radical way," © Copyright 1997 Radio Prague All Rights Reserved Please send us your comments RP Home / Radio Prague in English / Sportreview | |
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