Czechs transformed by changes

The Czech Republic looked a team transformed from the one overwhelmed by France on the opening day of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship as they produced an excellent display to beat Belgium 1-0 in their second Group 2 match.

Narrow margin
Belgium can consider themselves fortunate that their margin of defeat was narrow enough to ensure that victory over group leaders France in their concluding match tomorrow should be enough for a quarter-final place. However, their failure to seriously trouble the Czech defence following their previous 2-1 success over Greece will not fill the Belgian team with confidence.

Beránek wants even better
Even more worrying for Belgium coach Jean-François de Sart was that his Czech counterpart Miroslav Beránek believed his side were still not playing at their full potential on Sunday. Beránek said: "We played better than we did against France but we are still not at the level that we can play. However it was a difficult match for us psychologically. We needed to win to have a chance of going through to the semi-finals. The team are motivated to carry on in the tournament so we will be hoping for the best."

Changes work wonders
Beránek made six changes to team beaten by France, and the performances of the newly introduced Tomáš Jun and Tomáš Hrdlicka were crucial to the revival of the 2000 finalists' fortunes. The fact that Beránek was then able to further trouble the Belgians by bringing on Liverpool FC forward Milan Baros for Jun will give the Czechs even more confidence that they can keep up their winning form against the Greeks on Tuesday. Their only worry will be the fact that they could not add to Martin Jiranek's 19th-minute goal, although they did strike the woodwork twice and Baros was unfortunate to be flagged offside after being sent clear and shooting home late on.

Only bright spot
The only bright spot from a Belgian viewpoint were the mature performances of goalkeeper Jean-François Gillet and defenders Jonas De Roeck and Birger Maertens, without which a heavier defeat would have been a certainty. France's two wins in this competition so far, including their comfortable victory over the Czechs, suggests that a huge improvement will be needed by Belgium to gain the victory they are likely to need to make the last eight, and the coach admits that the odds are against them.

Draw 'not enough'
De Sart admitted: "We know that the French team are high quality. We will fight and try to prove we merit a place in the semi-finals but the reality is that a draw will not be enough and that is a scenario we did not want." However, he did point to Belgium's senior victory over France on Saturday as proof that no result is certain in international football. Striker Tom Soetaers, who was used as a substitute for the second game running against Czech Republic may be given his first start of the competition in Tuesday’s game.