The last of the Home Nations to get their Euro 2020 campaign underway do so in the opening match of the Monday action in the tournament when Scotland play host to the Czech Republic at a Hampden Park which will have fans inside it.
Both teams know that meetings with England and Croatia are on the horizon so this is a contest neither dare lose for their chances of progressing to the next round of the competition. These two know each other well having been in the same Nations League group earlier in the campaign.
Where to watch
This match will be on BBC1 in the UK with all the build-up to the game beginning at 1.15pm. It is a 2pm kick off in Glasgow for those of us in this part of the world.
Scotland
They have waited 23 years to embark on another tournament tilt so you would imagine that Scotland will be chomping at the bit to get started and show their talent on this stage once again. They need to guard against being too hyper and too determined to prove themselves and failing to perform but they also need to find the balance of having that passion and energy in their game, which I’m sure the home crowd will naturally help them with.
Scotland warmed up for this tournament with a good result against the Dutch which will give them confidence moving forward. They look to carry a bit more of a goal threat now than they did a couple of years ago while they have a couple of top class players down the left side of their defence which helps a lot too. All of a sudden a number of their squad are getting good game time with Premier League clubs, so just quietly this might be an underrated Scotland side.
Czech Republic
If Scotland can’t remember their last tournament showing, the Czech Republic are something of tournament specialists, especially in this competition where their record is surprisingly strong. They will look to win here and all but secure a passage out of the group so that their previous record can be built on. They will be eager to show their worth here because when they faced Scotland in the Nations League, Covid took a lot of key players away from them.
The Czechs are kind of similar to Scotland in that for a few years they were in the wilderness because they carried no sort of goal threat whatsoever. That has all changed now though and with a number of this squad having gone well in the Europa League with Slavia Prague, there are a number of players in it who have performed on decent stages this term. That will all offer up confidence, as will the knowledge that they drew with Belgium in World Cup qualifying recently.
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Team News
Steve Clarke has everyone with him in his squad for this match although John Fleck isn’t quite ready to go after he tested positive for Covid-19 recently. It would appear Clarke is going with the players who got Scotland to these finals so the likes of Billy Gilmour may have to be content with a place on the bench.
The Czechs will only have a couple of goalkeepers available to them in this match because Jiri Pavlenka picked up a back injury and his replacement, Tomas Koubek, hasn’t arrived with the party yet. West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek will be looking to prove his worth here.
Betting
We’ve had seven matches in this tournament so far and in five of them the scoring arrived in the second period and I fancy that trend might continue here. I say that because there is a good chance both teams will look to get a foothold in the game and get to half time without taking too many risks knowing that defeat in this one would make qualifying very difficult indeed. We might see something of a stalemate initially, particularly as neither are blessed with a top class leader of the line, but even with conditions not likely to be energy zapping, the game should open up in the second half as both go after the win they need to be on track to go through. That all tells me we might once again see the most goals coming after the break.
I’ll also have a smaller bet on John McGinn to pick up a card. He is a card machine for Aston Villa and he isn’t averse to them in the international arena either having picked up a few in recent times. He is an all action midfielder who puts himself about and there are one or two in the Czech midfield who are no strangers to going over without too much of an invitation. McGinn was booked 12 times in the Premier League this term so he has a bit of an issue when it comes to tackling and at 12/5 he looks good for a booking in this one.
Tips
Back Highest Scoring Half – Second Half for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Betfair
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Back J.McGinn to be shown a card for a 1/10 stake at 3.40 with William Hill
Back him here:
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