Hasek reign starts in perfect fashion as Czech Republic fight back to beat Norway
Intense control of the ball within the opening 20 minutes eventually led to the hosts breaking the deadlock. Oscar Bobb was responsible, picking up the ball out wide and sizing up his marker as another defender rushed over to cover. The 20-year-old then simply poked the ball between the two of them into the penalty area, where he blasted home his second goal for his country.
While Norway will not be competing in this summer’s UEFA European Championships, the likes of Bobb could be crucial in their attempts to end their current 24-year wait for a major tournament appearance. However, they must fix their leaky defence, which was expertly exposed before the break by the Czechs, to do so.
Committing bodies forward following the defence of a corner was a masterstroke by new head coach Hasek, as David Zima - one of seven men queuing up in the penalty area - levelled the scoreline by heading in unmarked from six yards.
There was still some ironing out of Norway’s system to be completed as natural strikers Erling Haaland and Alexander Sørloth shared duties of the one central role in Ståle Solbakken’s attack, yet their best opportunity eventually arrived with the latter crossing to the former. Haaland, though, was unable to power a header past Jindrich Stanek, who parried away. Zima then did just enough to put the Manchester City star off and avoid the rebound being put into an empty net.
Ultimately, Haaland was withdrawn after 75 fruitless minutes which, days after being pictured limping in training, may be cause for concern for both club and country. At the opposite end of the field the Czechs had done little to trouble Orjan Nyland - up until the 85th minute at least.
Substitute Ondrej Lingr was brought down by Andreas Hanche-Olsen on the edge of the box - a foul the defender was only yellow carded for - before Antonín Barák delivered the real punishment, stepping up to fire the late winner into the top-left corner direct from the resulting free-kick.
With Euro 2024 on the horizon, Czech Republic will be boosted by this result as they aim to progress from a group including Turkey, Portugal and one other qualifier yet to be confirmed. For Norway, meanwhile, this was another example of them failing to make full use of the incredible array of talent at their disposal. Solbakken will be hoping for a much improved performance when they host Slovakia on Tuesday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: David Zima (Czech Republic)