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The Czech national team managed to rehabilitate themselves after the failure in the first European Championship match against the Russians. On Tuesday, Michal Bilek's proteges defeated the Greeks 2-1 in the city of Wroclaw and kept alive their hopes of reaching the next stage of the tournament.
The match started off very successfully - inspired by the huge crowds of fans, the Czech footballers took the lead 2-0 just 6 minutes into the game after accurate shots from P. Jiracek and V. Pilar.
The stunned Greeks were unable to level the game and threaten their opponent's goal. Soon, the "blue-whites" coach decided to substitute the unsteady goalkeeper K. Chalkias.
At the end of the half, the Greeks scored a goal, but it was disallowed.
Before the second half, the Czechs replaced the captain T. Rosický with M. Kolar, and striker T. Gekas appeared in the opponents' ranks.
The 2004 European champions unexpectedly regained hope to at least achieve a draw, when P. Cech, touted as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, unfortunately missed the ball and T. Gekas took advantage - 2-1.
At the end of the match, the Greeks tried to launch a siege of their opponents' goal, but failed to create dangerous opportunities.
Greece 1 - 2 Czech Republic 3' [0 - 1] P. Jiracek 6' [0 - 2] V. Pilar 53' [1 - 2] T.Gekas
