Not the players, the referee was the star, the guy to watch. The players weren't very good. But we saw how Robert Malek let them go ahead for a while, then started to whistle for every little foul - he had to just to keep the match from turning into a war, it was that bad. It was a foul-a-minute kind of match. Later on in the second half he loosened his reign a little when he could. The Pole was in absolute control. A show case for a referee workshop: watch how he deals with a rapidly worsening situation.
He saw every foul, judged every dive for what it was and had no arguments with the players. Maybe he let them play for a little too long in the first half, maybe one booking was a bit too severe, maybe.
The Serbs scored in the extra time, because they believed in it. The Czechs were just waiting for it to end, that's never a good thing to do.