West Ham: Czech media slam Tomas Soucek as 'heaviness' exposed vs South Africa

West Ham United ace Tomas Soucek hasn't covered himself in glory at the World Cup with Czechia.

The 31-year-old is featuring in the first World Cup of his career having missed out in 2018 and 2022.

After facing relegation with the Hammers, he will have hoped for a summer to take his mind off a drop into the Championship.

That hasn't truly been the case for the midfielder after failing to pick up a victory in the opening two games of the tournament.

Things got started with a 2-1 defeat against South Korea before falling to a late draw against South Africa on Thursday.

Soucek didn't show his best against Bafana Bafana and faced backlash from local media as a result.

Tomas Soucek slammed after cameo vs South Africa

There was no love lost after opening matchday defeat against South Korea as the Irons man was immediately dropped.

He may have featured for 90 minutes that day, but watched on from the bench to start with against South Africa.

Miroslav Koubek eventually called on the ex-Slavia Prague man with 23 minutes to go in Atlanta.

He was unable to help see out the game as a Teboho Mokoena penalty in the 83rd minute cancelled out Michal Sadilek's early opener.

Soucek didn't impress as part of that failure to win with local outlet Sport describing him as "below average" with a four out of 10 match rating.

They wrote: "He came off the bench at the same time as Provod. He wasn't particularly impressive."

That rating was echoed by iSport who suggested that the midfielder won't get another chance next time around.

They weren't best pleased with his performance, writing: "He was out of the lineup for the second time in the Koubek era.

"It is impossible to say that he would have considered returning to the selected team for the match against Mexico. The heaviness and uncertainty in the confrontation with the agile South Africans were striking."

How did West Ham ace Soucek perform for Czechia vs South Africa?

The Czech's really needed to secure three points on Thursday if they are realistic about securing a place in the knockout stage.

They didn't do that and it's fair to say that Soucek didn't help to achieve that goal.

His 23 minute cameo consisted of just 13 touches and eight completed passes.

He failed to have a touch in the South Africa penalty area and was also caught offside once.

That isn't made better by his zero per cent aerial duel win rate and his one foul committed at Atlanta Stadium.

With a clash coming up against Mexico on Thursday, Soucek won't be holding his breath for a start in Mexico City.