Czech Republic
Factsheet:
Euro 2012 Group A: 08-06-12: Russia – Czech Republic, 12-06-12: Greece – Czech
Republic, 16-06-12: Czech Republic - Poland
FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 26
Previous European Championship Appearances: 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008
Qualifying record: 10+6=1-3 15-8
Interesting facts: Milan Baros was the top scorer at Euro 2004 with 5 goals in 5
matches.
The Czech Republic top scorer of the qualifying
campaign is the defender Michal Kadlec with 4 goals.
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Another Euro and Czechs will again show up in the role
of underdogs. They haven’t missed any European Championship since they evolved
into Czech Republic from Czechoslovakia and have probably been the unluckiest
participants since then, leaving the championships in dramatic circumstances
all the time.
After a usual bad World Cup qualification campaign
Michal Bilek was appointed as Czech Republic head coach. The team had lost its
reputation after the golden generation of Nedved and Poborski had retired. Now
it was the time to build a completely new team and Bilek has done well so far.
At least he qualified for the Euro.
The team put together a mature piece of performance at
the Euro 2012 Play-offs. They won 3-0 in aggregate against cheeky newcomers
from Montenegro. At first sight all of the goal scorers seem to be
insignificant profiles for the European football. So did Nedved, Poborsky,
Bejbl, Smicer and others before their first ever European Championship back in
1996.
The match we remember: The only time the teams met
was at Euro 96 Group C last day match, when the substitute Vladimir Smicer’s 89th
minute goal ended the wonderful 6-goal encounter between the teams and gave
Czech Republic a chance to reach the quarterfinals and go all the way to the
final. However, Dick Advocaat lost two and tied one match against Czech
Republic, while in charge of Netherlands national team.
The match we remember: Czech Republic has never scored against Greece and the most memorable
match between these two still remains the Euro 2004 semifinal, where the hot
favorites conceded a silver goal from Traianos Dellas in the 105th
minute, leaving the Greeks only one step to complete their fabulous fairy
tale.
The match we remember: The disastrous for both teams World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign is
the only period where the two sides met in competitive matches. Each of the
sides won their home match.
Two profiles:
Tomas Rosicky: Now the captain of his national team, Rosicky is
one of the favorite players of Arsene Wenger. He is a player of outstanding
vision, nicknamed “Mozart” for his orchestrating abilities. His genius right
foot passes and powerful shots have upset many defenders and goalkeepers. It seems
to be ages ago, when he moved to Borussia Dortmund by a Bundesliga record
transfer amount in 2001. He was just 21 then.
Rosicky is not very consistent
in his performances due to many injuries. If not the disastrous hamstring
tendon injury right when his career was flourishing, Rosicky’s talent could have
brought him much more glory. He already made his Euro-debut in Belgium and
Netherlands in 2000. He will turn 32 this October and this is probably the last
chance for this great midfielder to show the world what a top class player he
is, and he will probably do so.
Tomas Pekhart: He has long been rated as Czech Republic’s
upcoming profile. Before moving to the national team, Pekhart was involved in
different youth teams of his country, amounting impressive number of 56
appearances in total. He was invited to Tottenham Hotspur in 2006. In 2011 he
finally found his team: the Bundesliga side of Nuremberg acquired him and Pekhart
has been a regular for the team’s starting eleven for the whole season. He has
already played 9 times for the Czech Republic national team. If there doesn’t
seem to be anything special in the achievements mentioned above, try to read it
once again keeping in mind that Tomas Pekhart is only 22 years old.
My prediction:
Michal Bilek seems to be a modest specialist, doing
his job without any serious controversies. It is obvious that he has no
superstars in the team. Experts consider this team as one of the Euro 2012
weakest temans. Repeating heroic results of 1996 and 2004 is simply mission
impossible and Bilek openly accepts this fact.
But not everything looks that bad. Czechs were lucky enough
to get Russia, Greece and Poland, to share the two lucky tickets to
quarterfinals.
What does a team need to qualify to quarterfinals from
Group A?
A great goalkeeper: no need to compare Peter Cech to any
of his colleagues from Group A.
Less attention: Czechs could not have been ranked lower
at this Euro. Now they have the chance to concentrate on their performances.
A right mix of experienced players and young challengers
in any line: Cech, Kadlec, Rosicky, Plasil, Baros; real professionals, who are
indispensable for their top European clubs. Any youngster getting a chance to
perform next to these players can boost his confidence.
A good schedule: actually this part could become the
crucial moment in the group. I see a thrilling scenario for the Czechs at Euro,
where they start the tournament with a match against Russia – a team expected
to perform much better despite not being much stronger than Czechs in the field.
Narodak, as they are called at home, don’t necessarily need to win against
Russians or Greeks. They just need to wait until their chance is there in the
last match against another team under pressure, hosts from Poland. Poland does
not seem to be ready for such a pressure in the last game.
My prediction is that Czechs stop their journey at
quarterfinals this time.
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* 6+2=3-1 7-7: played 6, won 2, tied 3, lost 1,
scored 7, conceded 7
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