teplice catch kaiserslautern cold published: thursday 25 september 2003, 0.32cet 1. fc kaiserslautern 1-2 fk teplice jan rezek and henrich bencik give visitors a great chance.
fk teplice have a great chance of reaching the uefa cup second round after a fine 2-1 win against 1. fc kaiserslautern in germany.
narrow lead the away side, who qualified for europe after winning the czech cup in 2003, will therefore take a slender advantage back to the czech republic for the second leg in three weeks' time after a hard-working team performance at the fritz-walter-stadion.
early advantage the home side actually began the match the better, with both christian timm, who was denied by goalkeeper tomás pokustil, and miroslav klose going close during the opening exchanges, but it was the visitors who made the breakthrough on six minutes. striker jan rezek collected a long pass from pavel horváth before finding an assured finish, lifting the ball over kaiserslautern goalkeeper tim wiese to give teplice the lead.
klose chances the goal visibly stung the german side, and both vratislav lokvenc and klose were cautioned before the latter came close to finding an equaliser, only to see his shot fly just past the post. there were chances at both ends as the half drew to a close, with klose and rezek both denied.
headed equaliser undeterred, the home team continued to press forward, and after klose missed another chance, finally drew level 12 minutes after half-time. inevitably, it was klose who found the target, the german international striker heading into the net from jose dominguez's left-wing cross.
bencik pounces parity lasted just seven minutes, however, as horváth's free-kick was misjudged by wiese and henrich bencik was on hand to restore the visitors' lead. teplice held on in the final 25 minutes, working hard to deny kaiserslautern space and chances, before the final whistle marked a famous victory.
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