Czech Republic

Czech Republic had to go through the play-offs to book their first ticket to FIFA World Cup.

Placed in a group that included soccer powerhouse The Netherlands, Czechs

managed to finish at the second place.

The second place meant that the sad memories of 2001, when they had lost their play-off against Belgium to watch the Korea/ Japan 2002 tournamnet from their home, came back.

However, this time there was a happy ending to their campaign as Karel Bruckner's side outplayed the Norwegians both home and away.

After securing the berth for Germany 2006 Bruckner described it as his "finest hour as a manager."

The success of the Czechs' was expected as they had dished out a great

performance at the UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal despite losing in the semi-finals to eventual winners Greece.

They were the only team not to drop a point in the group stages, coming from

behind to win against both Germany and The Netherlands.

Bruckner will be hoping for a similar brand of attractive and attacking football from his players at Gernmany 2006.

Czech Republic were the top scorers of the European qualifying phase, with Jan

Koller second highest scorer overall on nine goals, two behind Portuguese striker Pauleta.

The players to watch out for are the towering centre forward Jan Koller, Pavel Nedved, Karel Poborsky, Milan Baros, Tomas Rosicky and goalkeeping star Petr Cech.