Czech Republic
How’d they get here: Won a play-off against Montenegro after
finishing second to Spain in qualifying.
Last Appearance: Euro 2008
Best Appearance: Euro 1976 (Champions, as Czechoslovakia)
Schedule:
June 8 vs. Russia
June 12 vs. Greece
June 16 vs. Poland
The Story:
Filling in for Luka, I am tasked with giving you a preview of the Czech Republic for the Euro 2012 tournament, which is now only 13 days away. The Czechs make their fourth straight appearance in a European championship, and look to take advantage of an easy group and put themselves in the quarter finals. Qualification was not easy for them under new manager Michal Bilek, they narrowly edged-out Scotland in their qualifying group, needing a controversial penalty to earn a crucial point against the Scots in a 2-2 draw. Then they needed to win and hope that Scotland would lose their last qualifying game in order to make the playoffs. Luckily for the Czechs, the team Scotland wound up playing was Spain.
Unlike some of the other teams that Luka has previewed so far, the Czechs feature a team of good players who play for good club teams across Europe. These players include Petr Cech (Chelsea), Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal), Michal Kadlec (Bayern Leverkusen), Jaroslav Plasil (Bordeaux). All of them have big-league experience, and have been capped (played for Czech Republic) at least 30 times, with Cech leading at 89 caps. The squad also features a good mix of the next generation of Czech players, with the 'old guard' still very much a big part of the team (most of the players are in their prime at the moment).
Euro 2012 seems like an ideal time for Czech Republic to make some noise and they could be (but don't count on it) a surprise team in this tournament. Their opening game against Russia (a team that made the semi-finals in Euro 2008) will reveal a lot about the type of tournament that they will have. A strong start could give them a lot of confidence, and they will be favored to win their remaining group A games against Greece and hosts Poland. Unfortunately for the Czechs, even a group A win will not guarantee them an easy quarter final opponent, as the group winner plays the runner-up of group B (which features the likes of the Netherlands, Portugal, and Germany).
So how do I think that the Czechs will fare? I will go out on a limb and say that they will make a nice run, and lose in the semi-final. This is the best team they have had in a long time, so look for this to be their best performance.
#1 Song in the Czech Republic right now:
If you are a fan of the 'Beatshakers' (Serbian people know what I'm talking about) you will love this. Even if you are not a fan, I strongly suggest you watch this video, I'm still laughing.
Reasons to Cheer for Czech Republic:
If you are Czech. The above video, if you think that Jan Koller was the best 'tall' striker over the last 30 years. If you like under-dogs, if you don't like Poland, Greece, or Russia, if you like crappy groups (3 of four teams we've previewed have been from group A),the above video.
Previous Teams
Team #12 will be revealed tomorrow.
Damnjan Zlatic
No comments:
Post a Comment