Injured Polak out of Czech qualifiers

Anderlecht midfielder Jan Polak has been ruled out of the Czech Republic’s two World Cup qualifiers against Slovakia and San Marino after tearing ligaments in his knee while playing for his Belgian club on Sunday.

Czech coach Ivan Hasek said Monday: “We spoke on the phone and from what I can gather he will be sidelined for quite a while.”

Polak, 28, has been replaced in the squad by West Ham’s Radoslav Kovac.

After Saturday’s crunch match against bitter rivals Slovakia in Bratislava, the Czechs play the last three qualifiers at home against no-hopers San Marino on September 9 and Poland and Northern Ireland later this year.