End looms for Czechs despite fine show

They play Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive at every opportunity at every ground in this tournament and they played it again on the final whistle in Bruges last night.

It was the wrong tune and it hit the wrong note. As the words boomed out of the tannoy the dejected players of the Czech Republic were on the far side of the stadium applauding their large contingent of fans.

The Czechs knew that they were most unlikely to survive. Only a rare combination of results, including a Danish victory against the Netherlands which was starting soon after in Rotterdam, could keep them in the competition.

Having lost to Holland only because of a last-minute and debatable penalty, and having hit the Dutch woodwork twice in Amsterdam, the Czechs proved themselves the equals of the world champions in terms of creativity and industry last night. Again they were unlucky and again Jan Koller hit the crossbar.

The Czechs leave Euro 2000 with nothing bar a Karel Poborsky penalty to show for all their activity. That is particularly harsh on Poborsky, excellent here, and far from the fitful presence he was at Manchester United, and also on Pavel Nedved, already one of the players of the tournament.

It was Nedved who was brought down for Poborsky's 35th-minute penalty, but the 7th-minute schoolboy error by Petr Gabriel that gifted Thierry Henry another goal, and some further scatty defending on the hour that let Youri Djorkaeff drill in the second unmarked, undid all the impressive work.

France, while not as convincing as against Denmark last Sunday, have genuine match-winners in Zinedine Zidane and Henry. However, while it was the French who scored first, it was the Czechs who threaten first. Picking up from where they left off against Holland, Nedved had Fabien Barthez rocking on his feet after just five minutes. Nedved was imposing him self early.

In fact the Czechs appeared at ease in facing the world champions. Then came Gabriel's mistake. Perhaps worried by the lurking presence of Zidane nearby, Gabriel turned his back on his first option of passing upfield. He instead sought Pavel Srnicek, but found only Henry.

Henry took possession thirty yards out. With Gabriel mounting a panicked chase, the thirty yards quickly became fifteen. Srnicek came off his line as he had to do, but, at the moment the Sheffield Wednesday keeper tried to make contact, Henry slipped the ball underneath him. "Lucky," said Henry afterwards. For the Czechs it was a very poor goal. Gabriel did come out after the interval.

Henry almost doubled the lead soon after that, guiding Zidane's typically perceptive pass inches away from the far post, but gradually the Czechs recovered.

Despite being on the right wing, Poborsky was central to this. Showing deft close control and imaginative trickery, Poborsky reached the byline to set up a good opening for the captain Jiri Nemec, and though Patrick Vieira forced a save in between, it was Poborsky's diligence in snapping at Emmanuel Petit that instigated the equaliser.

Nedved seized on Poborsky's ball-winning challenge and hared towards Barthez. Just at the point where he reached the French box, and possibly about to lose control, Nedved went to ground after a clumsy tackle from behind from Didier Deschamps.

The English referee Graham Poll consulted with his linesman and signalled the penalty-kick. There were few French protests, although presumably something was said by coach Roger Lemerre at half-time as Petit was withdrawn. Poborsky converted the penalty with supreme confidence.

The scores were level, but it was advantage Czech Republic in terms of momentum. Nedved, playing behind the two giant strikers, Koller and Vratislav Lokvenc, but equally adept at heading as the twin peaks, made Barthez show all his talent in blocking a fierce shot when Nedved had been released by Lokvenc's flick.

Given that ten minutes later Djorkaeff put a less forceful shot past Srnicek at the other end to win the match, Barthez's save represented something of a turning point. It was Henry who set up Djorkaeff, chasing down a high ball.

When Koller's header hit the bar with 20 minutes to go the Czechs must have sensed the worst. As the manager Jozef Chovanec said in an exasperated tone after: "But we've played well."