Czechs freeze out Norway

The Czech team coasted through today's game with a minimum of fuss against a largely toothless Norway side to spark scenes of wild delirium amongst the homes fans at the end of the game.

Tomas Rosicky gave the team ranked 4th in the world the all important goal in the 35th minute after John Arne Riise blocked a shot from Aston Villa's Milan Baros and the ball ricocheted to the Dortmund man. He made no mistake with his low, driven finish that gave Thomas Myhre no chance in the Norwegian goal and the Czechs took the lead they would never relinquish.

In the end the single goal was enough and the 1-0 win, their second in four days gave them a 2-0 aggregate victory, a just reward after being much the better team in both games.

In truth, the Czechs were never overly impressive in this game, and failed to produce the flowing football that many pundits thought would see them book their place at the World Cup. This despite the classy efforts of Pavel Nedved, playing in the captain's armband for the first time in over 16 months.

Instead, they produced a workmanlike display and pace on the break when needed that ensured that their visitors were never able to settle into any real attacking rhythm. Norway disappointed and their only chances of real note came at the end of a dour first-half when Petr Cech needed to react sharply to a rebound from the knee of Rozehnal and a stunning low save to a sharp John Carew effort in the 72nd minute.

The rest of the match passed largely without incident and the Czech fans were bouncing up and down with delight in anticipation of the final whistle long before referee Graham Poll bought proceedings to a close.

However, there was still time for one nasty moment before the end. Liverpool's Riise and Zdenek Grygera suffered a sickening clash of heads as they challenged for an aerial ball which left the Norwegian on the floor for a good two minutes and unable to make his way back to the pitch before the celebrations could start in earnest.

After the game, Czech manager Karel Brueckner was doing his best to keep his feet on the ground.

"This is the peak of my career," he said moments before his players picked him up and carried him on the field to the delight of the crowd. "We showed our character tonight, I'm proud of how they played."

Lyon's star striker John Carew was predictably down-beat after the loss.

"In the second half we were better, we had possibilities but we are a young team and we need some experience now," he said. "We have a lot of talent and I hope in the next qualifying campaign we will have the experience we need."

With a proud footballing history, the Czech Republic have now made certain of their first appearance in the World Cup finals since independence in 1993. In their previous incarnation as Czechoslovakia, they last appeared in Italy in 1990.

Their form, and the impressive list of players contained within their squad will have many wondering just how far they will go in Germany next summer after their near miss in the last European Championships in Portugal last year.