A perfect start slowly unravelled for the Republic of Ireland as they allowed a two-goal lead in Prague to slip away. The Czech Republic were gifted an entrance back into the game and only grew from there, forcing extra-time and penalties. In the shootout, Ireland’s recent playoff history would be retold; hope inevitably dashed as the Czech’s wobbled and recovered, while Ireland crashed out.
Tactical analysis and match report by Nick Hartland.
A crisis swept over the Czech Republic following their shock defeat to the Faroe Islands in their qualifying group. The fallout saw Ivan Hasek lose his job as head coach and Tomáš Souček the captaincy after he elected to neglect the fans in the following rout against Gibraltar. The nation has turned to the 74-year-old Miroslav Koubek to guide them to their first World Cup since 2006.
Back in October, it looked a familiar story for Ireland as they trundled towards elimination from a difficult qualifying group. However, a late push saw The Boys in Green rally as they won their last three matches, beating Armenia, Portugal, and Hungary to secure a spot in the play-offs. Ireland is riding a rare wave of optimism, and much of that has to do with Heimir Hallgrímsson’s ability to get a tune out of Troy Parrott.
For Koubek’s first game in charge, he set the Czech’s up in a 3-4-2-1 formation. In goal, Matěj Kovář, with a backline consisting of Ladislav Krejčí, Robin Hranáč, and Tomáš Holeš. Vladimír Darida and Lukáš Provod were the double pivot flanked by wing-backs Matěj Jurásek and Vladimír Coufal. Up front, Pavel Šulc and Patrik Schick supported Tomáš Chorý.
Hallgrímsson matched his opponents for shape. Caoimhin Kelleher was in goal with Dara O’Shea, Nathan Collins, and Jake O’Brien as his backline. In midfield, Jayson Molumby and Jack Taylor, with Ryan Manning and Séamus Coleman at wing-back. No surprises that Parrott led the line with Chiedozie Ogbene and Finn Azaz as inside forwards.
Ireland drag Czechs into favorable match-up
Koubek risked some flak when he was reported to have said in the build-up that Ireland played “Island football.” A phrase translated by Czech journalists to the Irish press as meaning, “A simple game, crosses into the penalty area for players to head. No great technique, but speed, efficiency, and fighting spirit.” When it was put to Koubek that’s how it was interpreted, the manager took exception and called it a poor translation.
However, there was more than a little truth to it, albeit Czechia’s approach didn’t differ wildly at first. Both teams elected to play vertically in the first 25 minutes, which encouraged a physical and stretched game with little time on the ball, rather than one that had anything coming close to a neat structure. And out of the two teams, a physical matchup greatly favored Ireland over the hosts.
Ireland were winning duels and set-pieces in advanced areas across the opening exchanges. Set pieces, in particular, looked like one of the deadlier weapons that Ireland carried in their arsenal. Collins came close twice to opening the scoring from two dead-ball scenarios, before he won Ireland a penalty from a corner. Parrott dispatched the 19th-minute spotkick to give Ireland a deserved lead.
Four minutes later, and Ireland would double their advantage. Once again, their threat came from a set-piece, as a well-worked corner resulted in an own goal from the Czech goalkeeper. A deep delivery from Manning found O’Shea at the far post. The center-back headed the ball back across the goal, where it took a deflection off Coufal onto the woodwork, before bouncing off Kovář and over the line.
1st minute: Ireland’s vertical build. Azaz goes direct to Ogbene, he knocks it down. Coleman advances, winning the second ball. Ireland recycle possession back to the backline and then launch another direct attack with Collins targeting Ogbene.
Manning gifts Czechia a lifeline
Momentum is a fickle mistress in football. Ireland looked as if they were going to storm to the final stage of the qualifiers. The breaks would soon be applied as they threw away their two-goal lead. Off the restart, Czechia forced a corner. In the fray, Manning needlessly tugged at Krejčí’s shirt. The captain looked to be running the ball out of play, but instead had won a penalty, which Schick converted.
A change in the game state seemed to slowly sap Ireland’s confidence, while Czechia grew. After the goal, Czechia slowed down their game and tried to build through the lines. Ireland weren’t all that willing to press their build-up, outside of trying to prevent short goal kicks, and would prefer to settle instead into a 5-4-1 low block that attempted to funnel Czechia wide. This meant that hosts began to have far better ball retention as they were no longer playing directly into Ireland’s strengths.
However, there were issues in Czechia’s build-up. They liked to build with a flat four, with Jurásek preferring to stay deep rather than attacking the left wide spaces. Provod and Darida would often split, with Darida usually dropping to assist the center-backs while Provod slipped behind the opposition midfield line. The front three would group in a narrow shape in the middle. The problem with this structure was that it just didn’t stretch Ireland’s block with any consistency, as the threats were usually bunched up.
37 minutes: A typical build-up shape from Czechia in the first half. Jurásek drops deep, Šulc drifts away from the left wing to the right-half space, leaving the channel vacant. It does create space for Schick to run into on this occasion, but Ireland are able to adjust wide.
Ireland let it slip late
At half-time, Koubek brought on Souček and Štěpán Chaloupek for Darida and Holeš. The introduction of Souček freed up Jurásek to take up a more advanced position on the left when building, with Souček situationally joining the backline to give Czechia that four at the back. Ireland, as a result, dropped consistently deeper within their shape, allowing Czechia to dominate the ball as Ireland finally showed signs that their block was being stretched.
Sensing a slip in standards, Hallgrímsson responded in the 68th minute with a double change of his own. At wing-back, Manning was replaced by Robbie Brady, while in midfield, Taylor was swapped with Alan Browne. Rather than changing the shape, this was more about trying to protect the result until the end of the match by inserting an extra bit of energy into a flagging performance.
Koubek rolled the dice a couple more times as he brought on Mojmír Chytil for Chorý, and then later Michal Sadílek and Adam Karabec for Jurásek and Coufal. Ireland, for the remainder of regulation time, looked to camp just outside their box, hitting rare transitions and inviting pressure on their shape. However, the dam would break. In a mirror of Ireland’s second goal, Czechia scored off a corner; the captain, Krejči, leapt highest to level the scores in the 86th minute.
Extra time and shootout heartbreak for Ireland
The two sides couldn’t be separated after regulation time, and so they were given 30 minutes of extra time. Not much drastically changed in the shape of the match as Czechia controlled the better share of possession, while Ireland hit them on the break with increasingly fatigued runs. Souček should have put the game to bed in the 98th minute, when he got on the end of Karabec’s cross. His close-range shot was put over the bar.
Minutes later and Ireland’s nerves were again tested as the ball hit Molumby’s arm. However, VAR would ascertain that the midfielder was inches outside the box. Ireland would have their chance to settle the game when Adam Idah broke past the defensive line, but the substitute wasn’t quick enough and had the chance stolen off his feet. Czechia should have gone down to ten men following a cynical foul from Chaloupek on Sammie Szmodics, which knocked out the Irishman, but it didn’t even earn him a booking.
The match would have to be decided on penalties. Parrott opened the proceedings and was matched by Krejči. Idah’s effort was again equaled by Souček. Brady sent Kovář diving in the wrong direction, while Kelleher would stop Chytil’s. Azaz couldn’t maintain the momentum as Kovář dived left and smothered his shot, while Schick would net. Browne went the opposite direction to Azaz, but found the same result. It was on Jan Kliment to settle the game, and he duly obliged.
Takeaways
It was far from a perfect performance for Czechia. They got their initial game plan badly wrong and allowed Ireland to take what should have been a commanding lead. They do deserve credit for adjusting to the situation and becoming the more dominant side. They’ll face Denmark in the final playoff match.
The same old story for Ireland as playoff heartbreak rears its ugly head. Ireland let this one go. They were in a dominant position with momentum fully behind them when they gave away a silly penalty. They retreated back on themselves, inviting pressure and eventually allowing what could have been an impressive win to slip away from them.
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