Euro 2016 Preview - Czech Republic

Team: Czech Republic

Manager: Pavel Vrba

Group: D

Other teams in group: Croatia, Turkey, Spain

THE SQUAD

Czech Republic go into this tournament with a relatively unknown squad but with a blend of experience and youthful exuberance.

Czech Republic national coach Pavel Vrba is a relative newcomer to the international stage and has been in charge of the national team since the beginning of 2014 successfully guiding the Czechs to their sixth European Championship tournament.

The former Viktorian Plzen boss who was Czech football coach of the year for five successive seasons since 2010 has had no fear in selecting home-based players largely from the Czech First League to be able to fit into his preferred choice of system.

Veteran midfielder Tomas Rosicky has won his fitness race to be included along with Arsenal team mate and most capped goalkeeper Petr Cech who continues to defy the odds and remain as first choice. Vrba will also rely on the experience of defenders Michal Kadlec and Tomas Sivok, and midfielder Jaroslav Plasil.

All those players can boast of having over 50 caps each but there are also some exciting and dynamic younger players such as Hertha Berlin midfielder Vladimir Darida, 25, Hoffenheim defender Pavel Kaderabek, 23, and Sparta Prague midfielder Ladislav Krejci, 23. Vrba will hope that top scorer in qualification Borek Dockal will be able to reproduce the same goal scoring form which saw him find the net four times during the campaign.

Regular viewers of the Sky Bet Championship may be familiar with Sheffield Wednesday defender Daniel Pudil, 30 and Brighton midfielder Jiri Skalak, 24.

Up front Vrba will be hoping that highly experienced Sparta Prague striker David Lafata along with Slavia Prague’s Milan Skoda and Bursaspor’s Tomas Necid will provide the goals needed for the Czechs to progress to the knockout stages.

The squad in full:

Goalkeepers: Petr Cech (Arsenal), Tomas Vaclik (Basel), Tomas Koubek (Slovan Liberec).

Defenders: Theodor Gebre Selassie (Werder Bremen), Roman Hubnik (Viktoria Plzen), Pavel Kaderabek (Hoffenheim), Michal Kadlec (Fenerbache), David Limbersky (Viktoria Plzen), Daniel Pudil (Sheffield Wednesday), Marek Suchy (Basel), Tomas Sivok (Bursaspor).

Midfielders: Vladimir Darida (Hertha Berlin), Borek Dockal (Sparta Prague), Daniel Kolar (Viktoria Plzen), Ladislav Krejci (Sparta Prague), David Pavelka (Kasimpasa), Jaroslav Plasil (Bordeaux), Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal), Jiri Skalak (Brighton), Josef Sural (Sparta Prague).

Forwards: David Lafata (Sparta Prague), Tomas Necid (Bursaspor), Milan Skoda (Slavia Prague).

HOW THEY GOT THERE

The Czech Republic went into their qualification group expecting to be in contention for one of the automatic qualification berths in a tough looking group including the Netherlands, Turkey and Iceland.

The Czechs didn’t disappoint and got off to the perfect start with a 2-1 win against the Netherlands in Prague thanks to an injury time winner from Vaclav Pilar and followed that up with a vital 2-1 win away to Turkey in Istanbul coming from an early goal down to take maximum points thanks to Borek Dockal’s strike ten minutes into the second half.

Pavel Vrba’s side made it three wins on the spin with a 4-2 win over Kazakhstan in Astana in a difficult encounter. The Czechs looked to be coasting towards qualification when they managed to maintain their 100% record with a 2-1 win over Iceland in Plzen once again coming back after conceding an early goal with victory arriving courtesy of an own goal in the second half.

However, Latvia ended the Czechs winning run with a gritty 1-1 draw in Prague with Vlaclav Pilar rescuing a precious point with a 90^th minute equaliser. The Czechs suffered their first defeat of the campaign going down 2-1 to Iceland in Reykjavik despite taking the lead but returned to winning ways with a hard fought 2-1 win over Kazakhstan at home with a double from Milan Skoda.

Czech Republic gained further momentum with a significant 2-1 win in Riga over Latvia but suffered a setback in their penultimate qualifying game going down 2-0 in Prague to Turkey who exacted revenge for the earlier defeat in Istanbul.

A superb 3-2 win over the Netherlands in a thrilling encounter in Amsterdam in their final match secured top spot and automatic qualification for the Czech Republic.

KEY PLAYERS TO WATCH

The Czech Republic have numerous important players spread throughout the squad with Petr Cech needing to reproduce the form he showed last season with Arsenal and fellow teammate Tomas Rosicky playing a vital role as the conductor of the orchestra in midfield and having a calming influence on the pitch.

Experienced defenders Michal Kadlec and Tomas Sivok will need to muster all their tactical nous to protect the Czech goal and midfielders Borek Dockal and Jaroslav Plasil will be expected to provide the ammunition for striker Milan Skoda.

WHERE THEY ARE PLAYING AND STAYING

Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse: June 13 v Spain KO 14.00

Stadium Geoffroy Guichard, Saint-Etienne: June 17 v Croatia KO 14.00

Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens: June 21 v Turkey KO 20.00

THREE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE TEAM

In qualifying for UEFA EURO 2000 they became only the second side to get through the qualification group with a 100% record, only to get knocked out in the group stage as they did again in 2008.

In 1976, the Czechs became the first team to win the European Championships on penalties and a deft penalty technique was born when Antonio Panenka’s infamous spot-kick earned the Czechs the title of European Champions in a 5-3 shoot-out win over West Germany after a 2-2 draw in the final in Belgrade.

The Czech Republic became the first and only team to lose a European Championship final to a golden goal going down 2-1 to Germany thanks to Oliver Bierhoff’s header five minutes into extra time in the final of EURO ’96 at Wembley Stadium.

RECENT FORM

Czech Republic 1-1 Sweden

Czech Republic 6-0 Malta

Russia 1-2 Czech Republic

First game: June 13 v Spain KO 14.00