The Czech Republic rallied from two goals down to edge the Netherlands 3-2 Saturday in Aveiro, Portugal, becoming the first team advancing to the last eight of the European soccer championship.

The Netherlands stormed into a two-goal half-time lead against the Czech Republic with early goals from Wilfred Bouma and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

But the Czechs hit back almost immediately with a Jan Koller strike and in the 70th minute Milan Baros fired the ball past Dutch goalkeeper Van der Sar to from close range to level the match.

Just before the end, Vladimir Smicer hit the winner as the midfielder tapped the ball beyond a stranded Van der Sar to send the Czech into the knock-out stage.

"We were down psychologically after that second goal, " said goalscorer Baros after match, "But there was still so much time to play.

"Once we got the first one back we really fed off the momentum."

Bouma headed home just in the third minute through a swooping free-kick from Arjen Robben to put the Netherlands in front.

About 16 minutes later, Van Nistelrooy doubled Holland's advantage to make it 2-0 thanks to a Robben's squared pass from the left, when the Manchester United striker was walking back from an off-side position.

Just four minutes later the Giant striker Koller got one back for the Czech Republic, nudging the ball past Van der Sar from close range after he picked up Baros's perfect pass.

Late in the second half, Nedved showed excellent work to find Koller in the box and the giant forward chested the ball down to Baros who converted it to level the score.

And about the three minutes into the time, Liverpool striker Baros put his teammate Marek Heinz through, whose shot was saved by the Dutch keeper but Karel Poborsky got the rebound and crossed it to Smicer, who tapped home to seal the 3-2 victory over the Netherlands.

"Both teams play an aggressive, offensive style. It's a fun game to play, and to watch, " said the Czech skipper Pavel Nedved, who went close to score but his over-30 meters powerful shot just hit the post.

"We can now save some of our strength in the next game. But we have to remember we haven't won anything yet.

"We've taken the first step, just as we wanted to. But there is a lot more of the tournament left."

Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids also had one shot hitting on the post just before the break.

In Saturday's another match, Germany was forced to a scoreless draw with unfancied Latvia, pulling only two points from two matches. The German pleased to see their arch rival the

Netherlands 3-2 down by the Czech Republic, which help Germany remain the second place in Group D.

Germany has to beat the Czech Republic in the final group match to progress.