Czech Republic 3, Armenia 0 in World Cup qualifying
AP Worldstream
Oct 13, 2004
Jan Koller scored two goals and his Dortmund teammate Tomas Rosicky
added one to lift the Czech Republic to a 3-0 victory over Armenia
in their World Cup Group 1 qualifier Wednesday.
The Czech Republic opened strongly, with Dortmund striker Koller
scoring three minutes into the game off a pass from Marek Heinz.
Edgar Manucharyan missed a clear chance to equalize seven minutes
later when his power shot from the right hit the crossbar of Petr
Cech’s goal.
Two minutes later, referee Jacek Granat disallowed a goal because of
an offside after Armen Shahgeldyan played one-two with Karen Aleksanyan
and beat Cech.
In the 30th minute, Dortmund midfielder Rosicky made it 2-0 after he
collected Tomas Uifalusi’s pass in the center and moved closer to the
Armenian box before hitting the target with a powerful drive from 25
meters (yards).
Zdenek Grygera missed a clear opportunity for the visitors two
minutes before the interval when Koller nodded down Marek Heinz’s
volley cross from the right, but the Ajax Amsterdam defender’s shot
was blocked by goalkeeper Apoula Bete.
The Czechs dominated the second half and Koller was close to scoring
again on a solo effort in the 68th minute. Goalkeeper Apoula Bete
blocked his close-range shot with a stunning save.
Koller made it 3-0 nine minutes later, firing home from the edge of
the box.
The Czech Republic has 6 points from 3 games, while Armenia remains
winless in four games.
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Lineups:
Armenia _ Apoula Bete; Yeghisne Melikyan, Karen Dokhoyan (Artur
Mkrtchian, 46), Sargis Hovsepyan, Harutyun Vardamian, Artur
Petrosyan, Hamlet Mkhitarian, Rafael Nazaryan, Armen Shahgeldyan
(Andrei Movsisian, 80), Edgar Manucharyan, Karen Aleksanyan (Albert
Sargsian, 65).
Czech Republic _ Petr Cech; Zdenek Grygera, Tomas Galasek (Radoslav
Kovac, 55), Rene Bolf, Marek Jankulovski, Jan Koller (Vratislav
Lokvence, 84) , Tomas Rosicky, Stepan Vachousek (Jiri Jarosik, 74),
Marek Heinz, Libor Sionko, Tomas Uifalusi.