MATCH 07 REVIEW : SHOCK AVERTED BY RELIEVED CZECHS

Triumphant volley
Liverpool FC striker Milan Baroš brought relief to the Czechs. who were becoming increasingly frantic, with a 73rd-minute leveller from close range and substitute Marek Heinz broke Latvia's courageous hearts with a triumphant volley five minutes from time.

Intelligent running
The Czechs will be breathing more easily after a game which they took so long to conquer. They are the latest team to find out that Latvia - surprise qualifiers against Turkey in the play-offs - are a tough proposition to break down.

Diligent play
Aleksandrs Starkovs' team can be justifiably proud of their debut in a major competition final round. They covered diligently, defended tooth and nail, and often threatened on the counter, with their front duo of Verpakovskis and Andrejs Prohorenkovs running intelligently and combining to break the deadlock almost on the half-time whistle.

Czech momentum
But as the match wore on, the Czechs drove forward incessantly with a sense of mounting desperation and the end result was the outcome of a sustained onslaught that the Latvians fought manfully to stem before the Baltic dam finally burst open. It was only in the closing half-hour that talismen Pavel Nedved and Karel Poborský - both members of the side which finished runners-up in 1996 - finally found the momentum that makes the Czechs such a vibrant attacking force.

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