Ladislav Krejci stole the headlines once again from Wolves’ international contingent as his captained Czech Republic to a first World Cup in 20 years on Tuesday evening.
The Wolves defender scored his second goal of the World Cup play-offs, this time in extra time against Denmark, and although he missed from 12 yards during the shootout, the Czechs did enough to book their place in North America in the summer.
Also this week Jackson Tchatchoua captained Cameroon to victory over China, while both Jose Sa and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde started for Portugal and Haiti respectively, and a series of other players represented their countries off the bench.
Ladislav Krejci | Czech Republic (pens) 2-2 Denmark
Ladislav Krejci once again starred for the Czech Republic, who reached the World Cup in dramatic circumstances on Tuesday night. Like against the Republic of Ireland in the semi-final, captain Krejci was on target as the Czechs drew 2-2 and won on penalties, this time against Denmark. Pavel Sulc had put the hosts ahead after three minutes in Prague and they dominated the first half but let the Danes back in it after the interval through Joachim Andersen. As the game entered extra time, Krejci swivelled and had a close-range effort deflected home from close range to set his nation on course for North America. However, Kasper Hogh equalised for Denmark and sent the game to penalties. This time Krejci missed from the spot, but only Christian Eriksen scored for Denmark, meaning the Czechs won 3-1 and booked their World Cup place for the first time since 2006.
Ladislav is going to the World Cup! 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/vnv3m0KGrT
— Wolves (@Wolves) March 31, 2026
Jackson Tchatchoua & Xu Bin | Cameroon 2-0 China
Jackson Tchatchoua returned to the pitch for Cameroon for the first time since his Africa Cup of Nations snub and led his nation to victory as captain. The Wolves right-back was given skipper duties out in Melbourne and played the full 90 minutes at right-back. In the opposition was Wolves under-21 youngster Xu Bin, who made his second senior China appearance and played the full 90 minutes in the midfield. It was Cameroon who won the friendly thanks to two goals in the opening nine minutes, with Karl Etta Eyong and Saidou Alioum the men on target.
Jose Sa | USA 0-2 Portugal
Jose Sa was handed his fourth Portugal cap and his first for two years as they beat the United States in New Jersey. Held at the MetLife Stadium, which will host the World Cup final this summer, Portugal signed off from this international period with a 2-0 win. Wolves’ number one made three saves on the night, before being replaced for the final five minutes by Ricardo Velho, who was handed his debut. Portugal took the lead in the first half through former Wolves loanee Francisco Trincao and wrapped up the victory after the interval through Joao Felix.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde | Haiti 1-1 Iceland
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde added another Haiti cap to his name, as he prepared for his first World Cup this coming summer. The Wolves man started in the midfield once again against Iceland in Toronto as the two sides played out a 1-1 draw, with Sunderland’s Wilson Isidor equalising two minutes from time for Haiti, who begin their World Cup campaign against Scotland on 14th June.
Elsewhere
Mateus Mane made his second appearance for Portugal’s under-21s, coming off the bench in the 78th minute as they beat Scotland 3-0. South Korea’s final outing before the World Cup resulted in a 1-0 loss to Austria, with Hee Chan Hwang coming on with 27 minutes remaining and Sasa Kalajdzic also representing his nation in the opposition. David Moller Wolfe also earned another Norway cap in a goalless draw with Switzerland but was withdrawn 12 minutes after coming on after suffered a nasty blow to the face. For Santiago Bueno, he was an unused substitute in Uruguay’s goalless draw with Algeria.
