Northern Ireland U-21s crashed to their heaviest defeat in three years tonight at the hands of the Czech Republic, while England and Wales also suffered defeats.
The gulf in ability in the National Stadium between the North and the Czechs was almost embarrassing and the Czechs scored almost at will, eventually running out 4-0 winners. But for Michael Ingham the drubbing might have been worse and he was one of the few Irish players to emerge with any credit. Ingham, though, was powerless to prevent Kaufman from opening the scoring midway through the first half. Kaufman ghosted inside Darren Kelly and advanced on Ingham before comfortably dispatching the ball past the Sunderland goalkeeper.
The Czechs, who top the European Championship group three qualifying table, made it 2-0 two minutes after the interval, Ales Urbanek advanced into the area before pulling the ball back for Kaufman to rifle home his second goal of the match. It was now a question of how many and Ingham got down smartly to save a drive from Vachousek. That was just a temporary reprieve and on 54 minutes the Czechs scored again with an excellent goal. David Kobylik pushed the ball forward to Vachousek, who backheeled it into his path, and the Sigma Olomouc midfielder rammed it home. Five minutes later the Czechs scored a fourth when Vachousek netted at the second attempt after Ingham parried his first effort. Grant McCann was denied a consolation goal when Cech touched his 25-yard free-kick over the bar. But even if he had scored it would not have masked what was a resounding defeat for Roy Millar's side.
England were defeated 3-1 in Greece and now face a mountain to climb if they are to qualify for the European Championship 2002 finals after being outclassed in Athens. Howard Wilkinson's side struggled to cope with the slick one-touch play of the Greeks who have regained top spot in the group after registering their fourth win in six games. And, as tempers became frayed, Tottenham defender Luke Young and Chelsea defender John Terry were both red-carded in injury time. Wilkinson's troops were quite simply second best in all departments, with only Terry and Fulham's Sean Davis emerging with much credit, despite fielding West Ham duo Joe Cole and Michael Carrick. The Greeks went 3-0 up through goals from Dimitris Papadopoulos (26 mins), Giorgos Vakouftsis (42 mins) and an own goal by Terry after 59 minutes. England got a consolation with five minutes left when Michael Carrick shot home from 25 yards but it was too little too late.
Wales U-21s suffered their seventh loss on the trot in the Ukraine, but emerged from their 1-0 defeat with considerable credit at the Dynamo Kiev stadium. They ran, chased, harassed for their lives all night, and were very unlucky to lose to a second half penalty. The decisive moment came after 58 minutes when Stephan Molokutsko raced clear on the right and was brought down by Swansea's young keeper Jason Jones inside the box. Molokutsko got up to drive home the penalty.
Filed by Pat Nugent
