Petr Jiracek scored the only goal of the night as the Czech Republic sealed their berth to Euro 2012 with a 1-0 victory over Montenegro here on Tuesday for a 3-0 aggregate scoreline in their play-off.
The Czechs - semi-finalists in 2004 - had all but ensured they reached next year's finals being co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine with a 2-0 win in last Friday's first leg in Prague.
Jiracek, playing his sixth international game, fooled three defenders and beat Montenegro keeper Mladen Bozovic with a low shot from ten metres after 81 minutes in what was his team's only scoring chance of the game.
"Hats off to the boys, they did an excellent job," said Czech coach Michal Bilek, adding everyone was "as happy as can be with the outcome."
"We played a very good game at home and then put in responsibility and hard work here which brought us the very important and calming goal at the end of the day," he added.
The Euro runners-up from 1996 and bronze medalists from 2004 have secured their fifth consecutive European Championships appearance.
Montenegro, who held England to two draws in the qualifying group, will have to wait to qualify for their first major tournament after they became UEFA's youngest member in 2006 following independence from Serbia.
Their coach Branko Brnovic cursed his side's luck, as they failed to repeat their heroics against England when they came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in their home qualifier.
"I am sad, we didn't have any luck, Montenegro played well, especially in the second half, when we created chance after chance and we then conceded a goal out of nothing," he said.
And, angered by questions about his future with the team, he retorted: "You can't ask me now whether I'll stay. That's a question for the association chairman."
The home side dominated the first half, which brought tight defence and far more fouls than chances.
Montenegro midfielder Dejan Damjanovic had the only scoring opportunity of the first 45 minutes, but he sent his low left-foot shot from 15 metres just past the post.
Czech defender Tomas Sivok created problems for his side early into the game with his attempt to head the ball from a dangerously close range to keeper Petr Cech who had a hard time taming the pass in front of the goal.
Montenegro's dominance was even more obvious in the second half as Juventus striker Mirko Vucinic set up Demjanovic for a right-footed shot in the 50th minute, but Cech deflected the ball into the bar.
Vucinic had great chances himself, but he first headed above the bar from two metres, and then his two quick shots from a close range were stopped and cleared by Cech.
"We had chances just like in Prague, but we faced a very good team with excellent defence and a fantastic keeper, the best one in Europe," said Brnovic.
"They created quite a fuss in front of our goal a few times, we could see they're strong up front. They confirmed it today and I'm glad we didn't concede," said Bilek.
Brnovic was without suspended defender Milan Jovanovic and midfielder Milorad Pekovic, as well as midfielder Simon Vukcevic, who started on the bench after breaking his nose in pre-game practice.
Vukcevic came on in the second half wearing a mask similar to that sported by Cech, who broke his nose following a hit from Chelsea teammate Ashley Cole in a Premier League game at Blackburn ten days ago.
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Source: AFP
