THE Czech victory means that President Vaclav Havel, instead of returning directly to Prague next Sunday at the end of his State visit, will be at Wembley for the final against Germany.

An aide of the president said jokingly in Prague last night that the timing of Mr Havel's visit to Ireland had been carefully planned to take account of the Czech Republic's confident expectation of the Wembley date. He added, "We are all very happy".

Also is Dublin this weekend is the Czech Republic's under 2 women's hockey team. They will be playing in a four nations tournament at Belfield in which Ireland, Scotland and Wales are the other participants.