The Czech Republic suffered a 2-1 defeat by South Korea in their final test before the Euro 2016, playing the last half hour with 10 men.
The Czech Republic are counting on a mixture of youth and experience to get them out of a tough Euro 2016 Group D in France that includes defending champions Spain as well as Croatia and Turkey.
Spain trounced South Korean 6-1 in their friendly on Wednesday last week.
The Czech Republic were upset 25 minutes into the first half when goalkeeper Petr Cech failed to clear Yoon Bit-garam’s shot from a free-kick into the top-right corner.
Czech Republic captain Tomas Rosicky fired just wide from a nearly identical position a few minutes later.
Playmaker Rosicky, 35, missed half of his team’s qualifying campaign and almost the whole season for Arsenal through injury.
It was Rosicky who lost the ball in his own half, inspiring a quick break and a goal by striker Suk Hyun-jun, who blasted a shot from close range to give South Korea a two-goal lead five minutes before the break.
The Czech Republic had several decent opportunities, but they were snuffed out by South Korean, who were able to get to the ball in one-on-one situations and threatened the goal from quick breaks forward.
The home side had a better start to the second half, Marek Suchy taking a shot from distance that was deflected into the net by South Korea’s Kwak Tae-hwi just after the interval.
However, the Czech Republic revival was stemmed an hour into the game when defender Theodor Gebre Selassie hit an opposing player in a mid-air clash, earning a second booking and a sending off.
“More than the red card, I was bothered by the first half,” Czech Republic coach Pavel Vrba said. “Certainly our substitutions helped, the game became much faster.”
The Czech Republic play Spain in their first Euro 2016 match on Monday next week.
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