Czechia qualified for the 2027 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship with a cathartic overtime winner after 63 minutes of action to upend Germany, 9-8, in placement play towards fifth place at the 2025 European Men’s Lacrosse Championship on Thursday in Wroclaw.
Caiden Vlasimsky scored the game-winner on a left-handed dagger and wheeled away in celebrations as Czechia clinched its eighth appearance at the men’s championship. Czechia also enacted revenge on Germany for an 11-9 loss in pool play, and got the final laugh after the conclusion of two heavyweight battles.
Czechia finished 22nd at the last edition of the World Lacrosse Men’s Championship in 2023, but has racked up an impressive resume in Wroclaw, defeating Germany, Poland and Wales, who all finished in the top 20 in 2023.
Vlasimsky also assisted Czechia’s game-tying goal with just over 90 seconds to play, scored by Thomas Hucal. Vlasimsky leads the Czech attack through seven games with 20 goals and seven assists, but had been held to just one point by the Germany defense until the final minutes of action.
Both Czechia and Germany advanced to the quarterfinals but fell on Wednesday, and had to battle for the three spots available alongside two other quarterfinalists.
Both teams had their stretches of superiority in a tense first half, with Germany leading for nearly the entire first quarter until a Czechia goal made it 2-1 in the final 15 seconds.
Then Czechia found two goals from Lukas Kucera in quick succession in the second period, but Germany had its own late riposte with a goal in the final 30 seconds of the half to tie it at 3-3.
Czechia opened the third quarter with three goals, but Germany made its move with four goals in five minutes sandwiched around the period break, with two from Justin Wismer to lead 7-6.
The final 10 minutes of the game capped off one of the best World Lacrosse games of the year so far, with Czechia answering Germany for equalizers twice, including with 90 seconds to go. In overtime, Czechia lost the faceoff but was able to press the issue with four shots to Germany’s none before Vlasimsky hammered home a winner.
Czechia is the sixth team from Europe to secure its spot in the field at the 2027 Men’s Championship, joining England, Ireland, Israel, Italy, and Latvia as well as the host Japan.
