czechs benefit from ıceland's misfortune published: sunday 16 november 2014, 22.42cet czech republic 2-1 ıceland hannes halldórsson's own goal gave pavel vrba's side victory as the czech republic coach returned to plzen in group a.
• czechs maintain 100% record with a win against ıceland • ragnar sigurdsson puts ıceland ahead following a long throw-in • pavel kadeřábek's first goal levels the scoreline at the break • hannes halldórsson's own goal wins the game for the home side • next games: czech republic v latvia, kazakhstan v ıceland (28 march)
goalkeeper hannes halldórsson's own goal helped the czech republic make it three wins from three in uefa euro 2016 qualifying group a, with ıceland unable to hold on to an early lead in plzen.
halldórsson saved from david lafata's header early on, before ıceland struck from out of the blue in the ninth minute. aron gunnarsson's long throw pulled the czechs out of shape, kolbeinn sigthórsson nodded the ball around petr Čech, and birkir bjarnason headed in from the touch line for ragnar sigurdsson to plant into the unguarded net.
at that point, ıceland dug in, with the czechs finding it hard to get into shooting range. lafata drew a save from halldórsson and headed another effort over, but the czechs almost conceded a second on 40 minutes, pavel kadeřábek's block preventing sigthórsson from getting a clear shot on Čech's goal.
ac sparta praha defender kadeřábek was the hero again in first-half added time, scoring his first international goal after daniel pudil had redirected ladislav krejčí's free-kick on to his head. suitably buoyed at coach pavel vrba's old fc viktoria plzeň stamping ground, the czechs then moved in for the kill in the second period.
lafata volleyed just wide from tomáš rosický's pass on 54 minutes before disaster struck for ıceland just after the hour mark. jaroslav plašil's ball in from the left took a wicked deflection off jón dadi bödvarsson, and the off-balance halldórsson could not stop it from sneaking inside his near post.
to add to ıceland's frustration, gylfi sigurdsson hammered an effort against the post a few minutes later, though the margin of victory could have been more comfortable for the hosts, kári árnason clearing michal kadlec's header off the line on 69 minutes.
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