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The fourth quarterfinal match of the European Championship has been played. The last team to advance to the semifinals was the Czech national team, who crushed the Danish team in the final minutes of the second half.
This was the fourth consecutive Czech victory, and now in the semifinals they will face the surprise of the tournament, Greece, who has already eliminated the previous champion of the championship, the French team. In the other semifinal, the teams of Portugal and the Netherlands will face each other.
Czech Republic - Denmark 3 - 0 49' 63', 65'
The match started quite actively and in the 6th minute Czech player Martin Jiranek passed the ball to Milan Baros with his head, but Baros failed to score accurately. Just 7 minutes later, Jan Koller headed the ball, but his shot was also off target.
In the 14th minute, after a shot by Czech player Tomas Galasek, the ball flew beside the goal. A few moments later, there was a threat to the Czech goal, but the shot by Cristiano Poulsen was blocked by a defender.
The Danes, playing more aggressively, created another opportunity in the 26th minute, but the shot by Thomas Gravesen was slightly off. In the 35th minute, Czech defender Martin Jiranek suffered an injury and could no longer continue the match. Zdenek Grygera replaced him on the field. Just before the end of the first half, Czech player Karel Poborsky crossed the ball into the penalty area, and it unexpectedly hit the crossbar. Although the Danes played more actively and controlled the ball for longer periods, the first half ended goalless.
Just four minutes into the second half, after a corner kick, Jan Koller scored with a header, putting the Czech team ahead. After this goal, the game became even more open and both teams started attacking dangerously.
In the 63rd minute, Milan Baros, receiving a great pass from Karel Poborsky, jumped ahead of the goalkeeper and sent the ball past Thomas Sorensen with a weak shot. Just two minutes later, Pavel Nedved passed the ball to Baros again, who broke through into the penalty area and sent the ball into the net. This was already the fifth goal of the 22-year-old striker in this championship, making him the tournament's top scorer.
With the situation changing dramatically in just a few minutes, the game slowed down. The Danes tried to reduce the deficit, but all their efforts were in vain. Danish substitute Peter Madsen played actively. Towards the end of the match, Karel Poborsky had a chance, but his attempt to chip the goalkeeper from 16 meters out was off target. All of Denmark's efforts to reduce the score were met with a flawless Czech defense.
Statistics: Shots on goal: 13 and 11 Shots on target: 5 and 1 Fouls: 20 and 15 Corners: 7 and 4 Ball possession: 42% and 58%
