Judging by how open he was, it was blindingly clear that nobody saw the man they call Kobra peel off his defender and flash into open space in the box, some 15 yards from goal. Judging by how open he stayed after receiving the cross, it seemed as though nobody expected him to score.



In the end, it was difficult to level too much blame at the befuddled English defenders. Very few people saw Zdenek Ondrasek coming at all.



Ondrasek, known by his nickname “Kobra” for the giant cobra tattoo on his back, is one of the unlikeliest sheer vertical rises in fortune in MLS history – or at least one of the most unforeseen. After being an afterthought for the first five months of his MLS career, Ondrasek used his club form – he scored seven goals in FC Dallas’ last eight games of the 2019 MLS regular season – as a catapult to his first Czech Republic cap on October 11th. And, as it turned out, the late game-winning goal in a shocking 2-1 win...