The Czech Republic were understandably
pleased Saturday to have taken a giant step towards the knockout stages of Euro
2008 thanks to a 1-0 win over tournament co-hosts Switzerland in their opening
Group A match in Basle, dpa reported.
The only goal of the game came on 71 minutes from substitute Vaclav Sverkos,
who had come on as a replacement for the ineffectual Jan Koller 15 minutes
earlier.
"I am delighted and our team can also be happy because the Swiss played
better than us," said Sverkos.
The Czech team's captain Tomas Rosicky, who misses Euro because of injury and
watched the game from a television studio in Prague, told TV Prima that he was
surprised at Bruckner taking off Koller but that the decision turned the game.
"It shows that coach Bruckner is a big coach," said Rosicky. "We
shot only once at goal but the three points are important."
Rosicky also agreed with Bruckner, who put the result down to luck as much as
anything else.
"Three points are a good start for us," said Bruckner. "Luck is
part of football. We played quite tactically today, a bit defensive because if
we lost then we would have had virtually no chance of progressing."
The man who replaced Rosicky as captain, defender Tomas Ujfalusi, escaped being
penalized for handling in the area in the closing stages and was fully aware of
the significance of the win.
"It is important. It is the first match," he said. "But we have
to remain down-to-earth, play our game, bet a lot on defence. We have to forget
about the Swiss now and think about the Portuguese."
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