Scotland stunned by Patrik Schick double

Scotland’s hopes of progressing from the Euro 2020 group stages have been left in the balance after a 2-0 loss to the Czech Republic.

Patrik Schick scored either side of the break to give the win to Czech Republic in a game that Scotland should have won.

The Bayer Leverkusen striker headed in just before halftime before making the most of a blocked Jack Hendry shot to put the ball past the stranded David Marshall from 50 yards.

Scotland were the dominant team in the opening 30 minutes. Andy Robertson was owning the left wing and saw a terrific shot saved.

Lyndon Dykes also sent a shot narrowly wide of the left post.

Czech weathered the storm though and took the lead just three minutes before the break. The Scotland defence could only clear a corner to Vladimir Coufal on the right wing, who floated the ball perfectly onto the head of Schick to finish from six yards.

Scotland started the second half strongly with the introduction of Che Adams causing problems for the Czech defence. Hendry came closest to scoring when his shot came crashing off the crossbar.

But it was Hendry at fault for the second Czech goal. A silly shot from 35 yards was easily blocked and the ball fell to Schick on the halfway line. With Marshall well off his line, Schick powered the ball perfectly over his head and into the net from just past the halfway line.

Dykes twice saw shots saved as Scotland looked to get back into the match and James Forrest did well to ghost past two Czech defenders before his shot was blocked.

The loss puts Scotland’s chances of qualifying for the knockout rounds in a precarious position. They now need to shock either England or Croatia to have any realistic chance of qualifying.

Cover Photo: “2012 Olympic Football – Hampden Park (3)” by daniel0685 is licensed under CC BY 2.0