Euroscene: During last summer's European Championships in Portugal, your correspondent came in for a dose of deserved "stick" for having had the temerity to suggest, on the airwaves of Today FM, that Greece would get blown off the planet by the Czech Republic in their semi-final clash in Porto. History, of course, decreed otherwise with Greece not only winning that tie but also the final itself against Portugal four days later.Euroscene

Even if there was an element of wishful thinking in that rashly optimistic prediction, it was also based on the all too obvious quality of the Czech team. For almost a decade since they lost the England '96 European Championship final to Germany, the side of Nedved (now retired from international football), Koller, Rosicky, Poborsky, Cech et al have been amongst the most competitive and entertaining around.

Furthermore, their 3-2 first round win over The Netherlands in Aveiro saw them play just about the best football seen in Portugal last summer.

In the end, though, as so often, the Czechs flattered only to deceive. As they prepare for their final Group One World Cup qualifier away to Finland tomorrow, the Czechs once more stand on the brink of a total underachievement. Following their 2-0 defeat by The Netherlands in Prague on Saturday, the Czechs go into tomorrow's final day knowing that only a win will earn them a second placed group finish behind the Dutch.

After that, it will be a question of complex mathematics to work out if they manage to avoid the play-offs by being rated as the other "best runner-up" in the eight groups, along with either England or Poland.

As the group stands, the Czechs are in third position on 24 points, one behind Romania and seven behind group winners The Netherlands. Against a Finnish side who lost 1-0 to Romania on Saturday and who have nothing to play for, a victory should be on the cards but recent Czech history urges caution.

As the newly-defined Czech Republic, the team first played in the World Cup competition in the qualifiers for France '98, in the wake of their excellent England '96 showing. Widely expected to do well, the Czechs disappointed, failing to make the play-offs when finishing third in their group behind Spain and Yugoslavia.

Two years later, they made amends, qualifying easily for Euro 2000 in The Netherlands and Belgium. Here, fate was less than kind with the Czechs being controversially beaten 1-0 by The Netherlands (again) in their opening game and then by France 2-1 in their second game.

Two years on, the Czechs again disappointed when missing out on the South Korea and Japan World Cup. Having finished a close second to Denmark in their qualifying group, we expected them to cruise through their play-off tie against Belgium.

Wrong again. It was Belgium who travelled to the Far East in the summer of 2002.

Watching last Saturday's game against The Netherlands, you had to suspect that Dame Fortune is not on the Czechs' side, right now. The match hung on a tense three-minute period in the first half. First, Czech playmaker Tomas Rosicky had a penalty brilliantly saved by Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Saar. That prompted an immediate Dutch counter-attack resulting in Rafael van der Vaart's 32nd-minute opening goal for the Dutch.

The Czechs, however, were not finished, hitting straight back at the Dutch with a Jiri Staijner equaliser. Unfortunately, the referee ruled it offside. Four minutes later, Dutch defender Barry Opdam met an Arjen Robben cross with a perfect header that de facto wrapped up the proceedings.

Not that the Dutch did not deserve to win. They were the better team yet, with a little luck, the Czechs might have got something out of the game. For the Poborsky-Koller-Nedved (it has long been speculated that if the Czechs qualify for Germany, he could make a welcome international comeback) generation tomorrow's clash with Finland represents their last chance of glory on the biggest stage of all. Czech coach Karel Bruckner believes his side can do it: "If I did not believe we could win in Finland, then I wouldn't be the coach".

Good luck to him and the Czechs.