It is the evening of PSV players Matej Kovár and Esmir Bajraktarevic. Both were crucial during their country’s penalty shoot-outs in the World Cup play-offs. For example, the Czech Republic and Bosnia booked the last European tickets for the World Cup in America, Mexico and Canada next summer.
The Czech Republic played against Denmark in the last chance to participate in the world championship. Earlier, Ireland won on penalties in the semi-final. Then Matej Kovár was already the big man with two saves in the penalty series.
The final also came down to penalties. Earlier in the match, the PSV keeper looked less good. He missed a cross, after which the ball disappeared into the net. However, he made up for this on penalties. Kovár again took a shot from eleven meters and can prepare for the tournament in North America.
Bajraktarevic also to the World Cup
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the hope was somewhat less high prior to the play-off match. Multiple World Cup winner Italy was the opponent. The Italians also quickly took the lead, but received a red card just before half time.
Esmir Bajraktarevic is often a substitute for PSV, but was in the starting line-up for Bosnia. He saw his team draw level and go to penalties. The Italians missed two, after which the PSV player was allowed to line up for the winning one.
His penalty was unstoppable for the Italy goalkeeper and so Bosnia qualified for the global final tournament for the first time since 2014.
