Some notable names from world football praised the striker’s 49.7m strike – the longest recorded since the Championships began counting these things in 1980.
Le Monde called it a ‘masterful lob from the centre line’. El Pais compared it to a ‘golf ball hit with a wood from the tee: from outside in and up and down’.
However the occasion for Scotland after a well-documented 23 year wait, was not lost on many outlets across the world.
The game
The play had ‘the messy and passionate tone of the game’ according to El Pais in Spain. Italy’s Gazetta dello Sport called it a ‘fun match’ with ‘great expectations in Glasgow but soon established a pattern after a ‘rocket start of the hosts, dragged by the public, but the script was understood immediately: Scots racing and fighting, Czechs of technique and reasoning.’
By the end, Toby Davis in the Sydney Morning Herald was lamenting the home team’s efforts. “Scotland had battled gamely on their return to tournament football after a 23-year absence and spurned a number of excellent chances of their own, with Lyndon Dykes guilty of wasting two superb opportunities.
“Yet the Czechs were worthy winners, soaking up Scottish pressure in the first half, and hushing a noisy Hampden Park crowd, who were seeing their side play in a major tournament for the first time since the 1998 World Cup.”
Pundits and players
Naturally, the goal was the focus of most coverage.
“Ohhhhhhh Schick! I think we already have the goal of the tournament, ” said Mesut Ozil on Twitter, and picked up by Twitter. “That goal was Schick” tweeted the BBC presenter Gary Lineker.
“The fact that a goalkeeper is halfway there won’t help anything. Without question. if I was the coach and a mistake made by a goalkeeper, I will be mad at him.”
“The goalkeepers were among the best in the field: Vaclik, number one of Sevilla, avoided serious problems, while Marshall, holder of Derby County, was very good in several situations, but in the 2-0 he was found unprepared, in too advanced a position.”
