Czech Republic Team Preview – Overview
The Czech Republic made it to the final of this tournament in their first attempt and have qualified for it every time since then. Every side from that nation that reaches this tournament will always be compared to the class of 96 but this is a fairly inexperienced squad who can’t be compared to that one.
Any expectations the people back home did have will have been eased when they saw the group which the team were drawn in with Spain, Croatia and Turkey as opponents in the first stage. Just to come out of that group would be a remarkable achievement.
Statistics
Best Performance – Runner-up (1996)
Previous Appearances – 5 (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 & 2012)
Qualified – Group A Winner
Qualifying Record
P-10 W-7 D-1 L-2 GF-19 GA-14 PTS-22
Fixtures
Spain vs Czech Republic – Monday 13th June, kickoff 14:00 at Stadium Municipal, Toulouse, Toulouse
Czech Republic vs Croatia – Friday 17th June, kickoff 17:00 at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne
Czech Republic vs Turkey – Tuesday 21st June, kickoff 20:00 at Stade Felix Bollaert-Delelis, Lens
Squad
Manager: Pavel Vrba
Goalkeepers: Petr Cech (Arsenal), Tomas Koubek (Slovan Liberec) and Tomas Vaclik (Basel)
Defenders: Theodor Gebre Selassie (Werder Bremen), Roman Hubnik (Viktoria Plzen), Pavel Kaderabek (Hoffenheim), Michal Kadlec (Fenerbahce), David Limbersky (Viktoria Plzen), Daniel Pudil (Sheffield Wednesday), Tomas Sivok (Bursaspor), Marek Suchy (Basel)
Midfielders: Vladimir Darida (Hertha Berlin), Borek Dockal (Sparta Prague), Daniel Kolar (Viktoria Plzen), Ladislav Krejci (Sparta Prague), David Pavelka (Kasimpasa), Jaroslav Plasil (Girondins Bordeaux), Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal), Jiri Skalak (Brighton and Hove Albion), Josef Sural (Sparta Prague)
Forwards: David Lafata (Sparta Prague), Tomas Necid (Bursaspor), Milan Skoda (Slavia Prague)
Betting
I think the Czech Republic are really going to struggle here. I don’t see them coming out of the group and to all known knowledge I don’t see them getting a point but the only thing that concerns me is that they face Turkey last and it could be that both sides are out by then and the game turns into a nothing match and they might pick a point up there.
As for the goalscorer market I guess it is feasible that the Czechs don’t score a goal which never helps and they don’t really have a dominant scorer so there isn’t a lot that tempts me in there either. They’re not the easiest side to bet on so I’ll swerve them.
Tips
No Bet
