Czechs stun France in Paris

France 0-2 Czech Republic
The Czech Republic extended their unbeaten run to eleven matches with a stunning friendly victory against France in Paris.

Lacklustre French
Goals from Zdenek Grygera and Milan Baroš sealed the win against a lacklustre French side, who were uninspiring despite the return of Zinedine Zidane and Robert Pires to the squad.

Ramé blunder
Grygera gave the Czechs a seventh-minute lead when goalkeeper Ulrich Ramé spilled the defender's 25-metre effort and the visitors shut out a series of French attacks to maintain their lead. William Gallas had France's best chance but volleyed wide and Djibril Cissé tested Czech keeper Petr Cech near the end - but by that time Liverpool FC striker Baroš had doubled the scoreline and put the game out of the home side's reach.

World Cup reminder

Coach unhappy
"The players produced a performance which did not match what I was expecting from them tonight," said France coach Jacques Santini. "We were too slow and too shy. The Czechs took this match like a qualifying game and gave everything. We were not able to face up to such a challenge."

Czechs happy
The Czech Republic, who went through the whole of 2002 without losing a game but were not present at Korea/Japan, now look to their UEFA EURO 2004™ Group 3 match in the Netherlands on 29 March full of confidence but France, who top Group 1, will hope for a far more convincing performance when Malta visit on the same day.