Czechia national futsal team qualified for the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania! After the first match between Croatia and Czechia ended 2-2 few days ago in Zadar, today in Brno Czechia celebrated an incredible win after penalty drama!
Croatia opened the match in in a best possible way for them. After a shot by Jelovčić got reflected by Czech goalkeeper, Tihomir Novak finds himself on the rebound, takes the shot and scores for Croatia, 1-0!
However, after a very nice set-piece play, Holý equalizes for Czechia with a nicely placed shot. Croatia tried to continue with pressure afterwards, but it was Czechia who had more promising opportunities at the time.
Five minutes before half-time, Czechia is pressuring Croatia who seem to have no solution with the ball and Croatia is forced to call out a time-out. After the break, Croatia seemed more focused on the court and it paid off almost immediately. After a beautiful individual effort by Dario Marinović in 17th minute, dribbling two Czech defenders and passing the ball to Vedran Matošević who finds the back of the net for another Croatian lead in Brno, 1-2!
Thirty second before half-time, Záruba made a powerful shot from the outside, the ball got a bit deflected from Novak, but enough to change its trajectory and fool Croatian goalkeeper Primić and just like that - Czechia equalizes once more!
After half-time, we saw decent opportunities and shots from the outside from both teams, but nothing came out of it. Very worth noting is Zaruba's fair play moment when referee signaled a free kick and gave a yellow card to Novak, but Zaruba immediately admitted that there was no fault committed. Novak was still left with a foul and a yellow card, however.
In 30th minute, Dario Marinović found Luka Perić on the opposite post, but Perić did not react in the best way and ball stayed out. Czech's Vnuk in 37th minute had a good attempt in front of Croatian goal, but Primić showed nice reflexes and concentration.
Czechia was a bit more concrete at this time and very soon three Czech players found themselves in a shot opportunity, but nothing came out of it. After few 'nervous' minutes, Croatia call for time-out.
Both teams implemented a bit more attacking mentality in the last few minutes of the second-half, but neither team managed to score. Two minutes before full time, Czechs called for a time out and returned on the court with 'flying goalkeeper' to steal possession from Croatia.
However, Czechs did not create any chances and in the last minute both teams had a decent opportunity, but Perić and Vahala were safe in the back. The match went to the extra-time!
As expected, we saw a less disciplined match in the extra-time with both teams trying to create a chance in front of the opposition goal. Jelovčić had a nice opportunity 30 seconds before half-time in extra time, but didn't find the net. We saw a very similar second half as the first one, with both teams pushing hard for the goal but we didn’t see any goals in the extra time.
And then the drama of penalties. It is very hard to describe everything what happened, but enough to say that we saw eight series of penalties and both teams pulling themselves from the abyss. In the end, it was the Czechs who won the penalty drama thanks to a goal by Vokoun. But the biggest hero of the penalty shoutouts is the Czech goalkeeper Vahala who stopped three shots!
>>> All teams qualified for the 2021 World Cup so far...
Congratulations Czechia, enjoy your fourth futsal World Cup!
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