The Czech Republic is a national team that many want to avoid ahead of every draw for the European Championship.
Whether it had a talented generation or not, the "locomotive" always finds a way to surprise. After the separation of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic participated in all the European Championships, and with the best results - silver, bronze and two quarter-finals. This is a sign that Turkey, Georgia and Portugal were unlucky in Group F.
The Czechs will play the first match at the Euro - the last in the entire 1st round of group competition against Portugal on June 18 at the Red Bull Arena" in Leipzig. Replay of the quarter-finals of the EP 2012 - The Portuguese celebrated with great difficulty in the finish, with a goal by Cristiano Ronaldo, avenging for the famous quarter-final defeat at the EP 1996 when the Czech Republic celebrated with a legendary lob shot by Karel Poborski.
The Czechs were second in the qualifiers with 15 points, the same number as Albania with a better mutual score, but ahead of Poland, which won the biggest competition of the Old Continent through the barrage. The biggest success of the Czech Republic at the European Championships was the victory in Belgrade in 1976, but as Czechoslovakia. At "Wembley" in 1996, the Czechs missed out on gold, thanks to Oliver Biroff's "golden goal", so the trophy went to Germany. This generation cannot boast of stars in the format of Nedved, Baroš, Rosicki, Koler... and the leader is captain Tomas Soucek from West Ham. The problem for coach Ivan Hasek, a relative of the famous hockey icon, Dominik Hasek, is the injury of Twente midfielder Mihailo Sadilek, who injured his knee by falling off a bicycle on June 9, and Slavia's offensive midfielder, Petr Ševčik, was called in his place.
Hasek did not lead the Czechs through the qualifiers, but Jaroslav Šilgavy, who unexpectedly resigned, and it is assumed that the conflict with numerous players who violated discipline - Vladimir Coufala, and Antonin Barak, who got drunk in a night club before the decisive match with Moldova - contributed to this. , which they won 3:0.
This Czech team with Hasek has not yet played an official match, but in March in friendly matches it was better than Norway and Armenia with an identical score of 2:1. The Czech Republic won the last test with that result - against North Macedonia. Before that, in the first test in June, they outclassed Malta with 7:1.
The fans of the Czech Republic are counting on the flash of Souček, who played all eight qualifying games with the performance of three goals and an assist, but also of Patrik Šik, who shared the title of top scorer with Cristiano Ronaldo at the previous Euro 2020 - five goals each. If he scores in Germany, Šik will threaten Miloš Baroš in terms of goals at the European Championship, as well as legends such as Marko van Basten, Zinedine Zidane, Fernando Torres... Šik scored 18 goals for the Czech Republic, up to the record holder in the "locomotive" Jan Koler. far, because he has 55 hits on his account.
The ideal composition of the Czechs was disturbed by Sadilek's injury, so the starting 11 should look like this: Stanek - Cufal, Vitik, Zima, Goleš, D. Jurašek - Provod, Barak, Souček - Šik, Glozek.
According to the specialized agency OPTA, the chances of the Czechs to win the Euro are only 0,7 percent, but the Czechs have experience, they have played seven times at the European Championship as an independent country (10 in total, including Czechoslovakia), and in the previous championship they stopped in the quarter-finals ( defeat by Denmark) after previously beating the Netherlands.
The Czech Republic and the Euro
It performs so far: 10 *
The greatest success: Champion 1976 (as Czechoslovakia)
The last Euro: EP 2020, quarter-finals
Most performances on the EP: Petr Čech and Karel Poborski (14)
Most goals in the EP: Milan Baros and Patrik Schick (5)
Captain: Tomas Soucek
The first star: Patrick Schick
Matches at the EP: Portugal (June 18, Leipzig), Georgia (June 22, Hamburg), Turkey (June 26, Hamburg)
*including Czechoslovakia
Bonus video:
