Star Player Disappoints, Team Appears Sluggish. Weiss Also Highlights Czech League Quality

The Czech national football team significantly complicated their path to the knockout stage of the 2026 World Cup in Canada, USA, and Mexico. In Thursday's match against South Africa, they held a narrow 1-0 lead for most of the game but conceded a penalty goal late on, resulting in a 1-1 draw. This outcome has considerably diminished coach Miroslav Koubek's team's chances of advancing from Group A.

“That's certainly not enough for the Czechs,” commented Slovak national team coach Vladimír Weiss Sr. on the match in the STVR Sport studio.

“They had a good start to both halves, they were active in those first few minutes, but they needed to score. The attacking players didn't make an impact, and Patrik Schick disappointed me; he was not active enough, and it seemed as if they were struggling with their running.”

“Of course, African players are more dynamic and accustomed to similar temperatures, but the Czechs were too passive from the 20th minute of the second half. The South African players were bolder and scored a somewhat fortunate penalty goal, but the Czechs played in a terrible block, with six to eight players positioned very deep on the line in the penalty area. They were not aggressive enough against the ball. Clearly, it's easy to judge in hindsight, and I don't know what the tactics were, but they were truly passive,” reiterated the 61-year-old expert, who noted that the Czech Republic should have scored a second goal but did little to secure a crucial three points.

“Before the final match, both (Czech Republic and South Africa) have one point. There's a theoretical chance, and they need to win in Mexico, which won't be easy, but anything is possible,” reminded coach Weiss, who found himself in a similar situation 16 years ago in South Africa before a match against Italy. He famously led Slovakia to a sensational victory, eliminating the reigning world champions and advancing to the round of 16.

“I saw Mexico, and it wasn't exactly a stellar performance either,” Weiss said before Mexico's match against South Korea (1-0), “but they're playing at home in front of nearly 90,000 fans at the Azteca Stadium, so they'll have a big advantage, and we'll see. I'll still be rooting for the Czech Republic, but today's performance wasn't enough to secure a three-point win.”

Weiss also stated that he expected more offensive changes from the Czech Republic in the closing stages and the substitution of the struggling Schick. “I perhaps expected Tomáš Chorý to be brought on towards the end of the match, or someone else in attack, but the coach (Koubek) left Schick on, still believing he was the man of the moment who could score the decisive goal. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Darida, who has good movement in midfield, also came off, and Souček, who is a different type of player in terms of physique and running, came on. But the Czechs today, I would say, had 'heavy' players,” the Slovak coach opined.

“They didn't have any 'speedsters'; neither Hložek nor Schick made an impact, and that's the reason they didn't win. They were not effective enough, and from my perspective, there was also a lack of quality. Yes, if we look at their squad, everyone praises the Czech league, which is better and more attractive than ours, with more affluent clubs, but it's still the Czech league, not the English, French, Italian, or even Spanish league,” Weiss mused.

“Five or six players play abroad, but as it turned out, the quality up front should be better, considering Schick and Hložek play in Germany. They practically made no impact, had no goal-scoring opportunities, and didn't create anything one-on-one. That's why they didn't win,” concluded the former Slovan Bratislava coach.

An extremely challenging task now lies ahead for coach Miroslav Koubek and his squad. For the Czech footballers to ultimately celebrate advancing from Group A to the knockout stage, they need to win against the home national team of Mexico at the legendary Azteca Stadium.

“They will have to play for a win. Of course, they have a certain quality, but do they have enough to beat Mexico? I will be rooting for them. There are other teams of similar quality, and with good fighting spirit, tactics, and emotion, anything can be achieved in football, but the Czech Republic and South Africa certainly won't win the World Cup,” Weiss chuckled, “there are better teams out there.”

“It's a battle to advance from the group, everyone wants to progress. We'll see how the last match turns out, but the quality isn't there for them to then beat bigger teams,” the Slovak coach added in the STVR Sport studio regarding the Czech national team.