Czech Republic - Group D
A rock solid qualification campaign from the Czechs saw them come through a tough group featuring Holland, Turkey and Iceland and finish top of the pack. The draw has done them few favours, however and they'll need a little bit of luck to get to the knockout phases of Euro 2016.
Get to know: Czech Republic
The Czech Republic were the only qualifying nation who didn’t keep a single clean sheet in qualifying and they know that it’s a record they’ll quickly need to improve upon if they’re to make an impact at Euro 2016. Despite these defensive frailties, they did still top their qualification group, which means they an extremely resilient side and should provide entertainment for the neutrals.
In the group stages, they won 7 games, drew 1 and lost 2, scoring 19 goals, conceding 14 and ending up with a +5 goal difference.
In the draw for the main event, the Czech Republic were placed in Group D, alongside the Turkey, Spain and Croatia.
Fixtures:
June 13 vs. Spain 1pm – Stadium Municipal, Toulouse
June 17 vs. Croatia 4pm – Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne
June 21 vs. Turkey 7pm – Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens
Goal scorers:
During qualification, the Czech Republic scored 19 goals
Their goal scorers were:
- Bořek Dočkal (4)
- Pavel Kadeřábek (2)
- Václav Pilař (2)
- Milan Škoda (2)
- Vladimír Darida (1)
- Ladislav Krejčí (1)
- David Lafata (1)
- David Limberský (1)
- Tomáš Necid (1)
- Tomáš Sivok (1)
- Josef Šural (1)
- Own goals (2)
Qualification Stat Truths:
- Conceded at the highest rate of any qualifier: 14 goals in 10 games (i.e. 1.4 per game). The only one of their seven wins to have been by more than one goal was a 4-2 victory in Kazakhstan.
- Second least resilient defences of any qualifier with 6.6 shots faced per goal conceded.
- The only qualifying nation who didn’t keep a single clean sheet in qualifying.
- Conceded first in half (5/10) of their qualifying matches.
- Highest share of goals conceded from headers of any team in qualifying (50% or 7/14). They let in over half the headed shots they faced (53.8% or 7/13) – the highest share by far.
- Blocked the smallest share of opponents’ shots in qualifying: 3.2%.
All data based on the Czech Republic’s Euro 2016 qualification campaign. Courtesy of the Press Association.