In the build-up to the game, Andreatta spoke extensively about the physicality the Czechs possess.<\/p>\n
A 3-5-2 formation has been the Australian’s preferred system, but a flat back four – with Amy Muir at right-back and Rachel McLauchlan tucked in at right-centre-back – was opted for, presumably to combat the towering and tough home front-line.<\/p>\n
At first, it worked to great effect with the hosts forced into a safe and suffocating game, only allowed to hit on the counter-attack, such was the Scots’ control.<\/p>\n
But the press dropped deeper and deeper and their stranglehold on proceedings loosened to allow the Czechs to finish the first half as the stronger team.<\/p>\n
Which led to Weir taking matters into her own hands – or feet – once again.<\/p>\n
When it comes to the captain, the superlatives are running thin, such has been her impact for so long.<\/p>\n
The same could be said for Emslie, who has seamlessly returned to the national set-up after giving birth.<\/p>\n
The camaraderie in the group was evident when the winger wheeled away having scored in front of her wee boy Jamie for the first time.<\/p>\n
It was the experienced heads who stepped up for the Scots – including new Chelsea captain Erin Cuthbert, who came on for her first appearance of the season and showed no signs of rust, quickly making herself right at home in the heart of the midfield.<\/p>\n
The leggy and nervy moments of the first half gave way to energy and hunger after the interval and the Scots’ advantage could have been even greater.<\/p>\n
At 2-0, the tie is far from over, but should Scotland pick up in Paisley where they left off in Pardubice, then a round two play-off – almost certainly against heavyweight Sweden who were 5-0 winners in Lithuania – should be in the offing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the build-up to the game, Andreatta spoke extensively about the physicality the Czechs possess. A 3-5-2 formation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":922263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-922262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}