The Czech Republic will be looking to match their Euro 2020 showing where they reached the quarter-finals before exiting to Denmark. They’ve traditionally done quite well in the tournament, winning it in 1976, losing a final in 1996, coming third in both 1960 and 1980, getting to the semi-final in 2004 and with two quarter-finals in 2012 and 2020.
Ivan Hasek’s side is made up of quite a few Slavia Prague players who have plenty of experience playing in European competition and a handful of stars playing in Europe’s top league, including West Ham’s Tomas Soucek, Fiorentina’s Antonin Barak, and Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick.
MANAGER: Ivan Hasek.
CAPTAIN: Tomas Soucek has become one of the first name on West Ham’s team sheet since joining from Slavia Prague in 2019/20. He’s an industrious midfielder who can pick a pass and has an eye for goal too, scoring 13 goals this season for both club and country.
STAR PLAYER: Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick has to get the vote here. His best season at Leverkusen saw him bag 24 goals in 27 Bundesliga games in the 2021/22 season and while his goals tally wasn’t nearly as high this season, (eight domestic goals and five Europa League goals) that can be put down to manager Xabi Alonso turning him into more of a support player for Victor Boniface.
For his national side, though, he’s the trouble maker and key to pulling defenders wide to create space for others and getting on the ball and creating scoring opportunities himself.
HOW THEY GOT THERE: The Czechs finished second to Albania in Group E, level on points but with two more goals conceded, winning four, drawing three and losing just one, scoring 12 and conceding six. Both managed to finish above Poland in a weak group overall.
HOW WILL THEY DO: In their 10 tournament appearances, the Czechs have on only three occassions not gone further than the Group Stage, and are coming into the Euros in great form having lost just three of their last 15 fixtures.
Their opening game against Portugal is a tough one, but they certainly have the talent and firepower to take six points from their remaining games and another quarter-finals appearance could be on the cards.
BEST BET: Czech Republic to be Eliminated at the Quarter-Finals
CZECH REPUBLIC EURO 2024 FIXTURES & SCHEDULE
Group F
Tuesday, June 18: Portugal v Czech Republic, 8pm (Leipzig Stadium, Leipzig)
Saturday, June 22: Georgia v Czech Republic, 2pm (Volksparkstadion, Hamburg)
Wednesday, June 26: Czech Republic v Turkey, 8pm (Volksparkstadion, Hamburg)
CZECH REPUBLIC EURO 2024 SQUAD
- GOALKEEPERS: Jindrich Stanek, Vitezslav Jaros, Matej Kovar.
- DEFENDERS: Vladimir Coufal, Tomas Holes, David Zima, Ladislav Krejci, David Jurasek, Robin Hranac, Tomas Vlcek, Martin Vitík.
- MIDFIELDERS: Tomas Soucek, Antonin Barak, David Doudera, Michal Sadilek, Lukas Provod, Vaclav Cerny, Ondrej Lingr, Marej Jurasek, Pavel Sulc, Lukas Cerv.
- FORWARDS: Patrik Schick, Adam Hlozek, an Kuchta, Mojmir Chytil, Tomas Chory.
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