Belfast - Czech national team kicked off their campaign to qualify for the next World Cup - to be held in South Africa in 2010 - with a goalless draw in Northern Ireland on Wednesday night.
Czechs, ranked eighth in the world, mostly held back after a convincing first half and the goalkeeper Petr Čech made sure none of the players from the home side (number 32 in the FIFA rankings) got on the scoring board either.
New coach of the Czech team Karel Rada sent only one designated forward on the pitch in what was his first competitive match at the helm of tha national squad, but Milan Baroš failed to convert the biggest scoring opportunity of the match when his header after a pass from Grygera just missed the goal in the 45th minute.
Hampered in their play by the rain which turned the field into a marshland, Czechs were lucky not to fall behind in the 50th minute when Petr Čech demonstrated once again with a fine save against Warren Feeney´s advance why he is considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
With no other major scoring chance coming up in the rest of the evenly fought match, the teams each took a point with Czechs now occupying the fourth place in the Group 3, trailing their former federal compatriots from Slovakia who on Wednesday unexpectedly lost 2-1 to Slovenia after beating Northern Ireland in the same manner last Saturday.
Poland leads the group after bringing three points from San Marino with an easy 2-0 win.
In Group 7 the Austrian national team, led by Czech national squad´s former coach Karel Brückner, failed to repeat their much applauded victory over France from last Saturday, losing 2-0 in Lithuania.
