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Nedved injury cost us dear: Jankulovski
"When someone like Pavel goes off, you're going to miss something," Czech defender Jankulovski said.
Czech Republic defender Marek Jankulovski said the loss of talismanic captain Pavel Nedved played a huge part in their crushing Euro 2004 semi-final 1-0 defeat to Greece.
Nedved, the European Footballer of the Year, limped off in the 40th minute after injuring his left knee, robbing the Czechs of their most creative player.
The Czechs still dominated Thursday's gripping match after Nedved was replaced by Vladimir Smicer, but without the dynamic Juventus midfielder pulling the strings they were less of a threat in attack.
After the match had ended goalless in regulation time, Greece won a dramatic tie on the silver goal rule when central defender Traianos Dellas headed home Vasilios Tsiartas' corner at the near post in the 105th minute.
Reflecting on the Czechs cruel defeat, Jankulovski said the loss of Nedved, who was one booking away from a one-match suspension, was a huge loss for the 1996 beaten finalists.
"Obviously, when someone like Pavel goes off, you're going to miss something because he's one of the best players in the world," Jankulovski said.
"He gives us something extra going forward and he's not easy to replace."
However, even without Nedved's craft, Jankulovski believes the Czech Republic would have beaten a stubborn Greece side had they been more clinical in front of goal.
"We created lots of opportunities, but we didn't take them," said the Udinese defender.
"In football, if you don't put away your chances, you often get punished. I thought we were going to go into a second period of extra-time and I still thought we were the likelier team to score. Then they got a corner and that was that."
Appearing in only their third tournament, surprise package Greece will face Portugal in Sunday's final in Lisbon.
The Greeks beat Portugal 2-1 in the group stages and qualified with the tournament hosts from Group A.
Greece then ousted defending champions France in the quarter-finals before bouncing the Czechs out on Thursday.
In their only other appearance at the European championships in 1980, Greece finished bottom of their group.
Fourteen years later, in their only appearance at a World Cup, they once again finished bottom of their group with no points.
