Czech Republic boss Koubek insists his side were 'closer to victory' than South Africa

[p]The Czechs got off to the perfect start with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sadilek-michal/zJiFbA7r/"]Michal ‌Sadilek[/a]'s early goal but they failed to press home their advantage ‌and allowed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/south-africa/W2ijYvlr/"]South Africa[/a] back into the game with a late penalty which [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/czech-republic-6LHwBDGU/south-africa-W2ijYvlr/?mid=8nrACRTs"]leaves ‌both sides on one point after two matches[/a].[/p][p]"[b]We are sorry about ‌the result, because I think that taking a look at the chances, we were nearer to victory[/b]," Koubek told reporters.[/p][p]"[b]But we were not able to score a second goal. ‌If we scored a second goal, it would ⁠probably be the end of the ‌match. Unless you score a second goal, you cannot win in such a match, ​and we had quite a few chances to score a goal[/b].[/p][p]"[b]On the other hand, South Africa did not create too many chances. ​They only had a few shots on goal from distance. I am convinced that we were closer to victory than they were, and we ⁠have, in the end, at least one point[/b]."[/p][image alt="Momentum graph" id="b7ebbf04-4a39-437c-98c6-06d4a7e7b0cc" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="9e05111c-6d78-4619-bbce-dcea66429131" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]Koubek did not agree with South Africa's manager, Hugo Broos, who spoke after the game about the Czechs only creating danger from their tall players from set-pieces.[/p][p]"[b]That is his opinion. He may have such an opinion, ‌but my opinion is different[/b]," Koubek replied when asked about Broos' words.[/p][p]"[b]I agree that the first half was better. We played better in the first half, but I do not agree that South Africa had many chances. I did not see these chances[/b].[/p][p]"[b]Sometimes there might have been the impression that our opponent was better because they were on the ball, but they did not have that many chances as we did[/b]."[/p][p]South Africa's penalty appeared generous as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sulc-pavel/dYaeeH8k/"]Pavel Sulc[/a] did all he could to get his arms out ‌of the way when blocking a shot, but Koubek did not want ​to argue with the referee's decision.[/p][p]"[b]I think it was okay to ‌call it a handball, but it was very unfortunate for us[/b]," he said.[/p][p]"[b]It depends on how your body is located in respect to the ball. I accept the referee's decision. Even though the penalty was quite strict, it was okay that she called it handball[/b]."[/p][p]The [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/czech-republic/6LHwBDGU/"]Czech ⁠Republic[/a] will take on [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/mexico/O6iHcNkd/"]Mexico[/a] in ⁠their final group game, while ‌South Africa meet [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/south-korea/K6Gs7P6G/"]South Korea[/a], with both games on Wednesday.[/p][infobox id="4ccc1b10-d68f-4c97-bcf4-5e613c17c2e3" /]