If that happens we will have a rotating door of average domestic league players being brought in for one time appearances the remainder of qualifiers.
Most of what I'm hearing about the match at this point is about the attendance, most recently someone saying they've seen buses with more people on them.
Just realized this is Pavlenka's first appearance as well, now if he has a scoring debut that would be something.
1-1 FT. We had chances to win this game (17 attempts compared to the 6 of Denmark), but were ultimately wasteful. More positives than negatives to take from this match. Might do some reviews for certain players a bit later.
It's very clear we lack a quality striker. No one in our pool really gives me that much confidence yet. Schick might come good for Russia, but he has to start playing more. Our defense also scares me. We having an aging Sivok still as our best defender.
I actually like how the CB situation looks. We currently have four decent options that are all on a similar level. I thought Kalas was very good today. Calm on the ball and made a key intervention that saved a goal. Krmencik was more lively than Skoda and had a few good moments. Under Jarolim, we've seen Vydra, Kadlec, Schick and now Krmencik, so plenty of more possibilities as opposed to Vrba, who continuously stuck with his same three of Lafata, Skoda, and Necid. My main concern is in the midfield. Having Droppa, Soucek, and Mares on the field at once was comical. All three shouldn't even be near the national team. Barak was encouraging though. Darida and Dockal are the clear locks in the middle, then I'd consider Pavelka, Marecek, or Petrak for that third spot. Vacek and now Barak should also be in the mix. Horava played himself out of contention with that performance against Norway.
Quite an interesting development regarding Zlin's Serbian winger, Vukadin Vukadinovic, who has applied for Czech citizenship with hopes of playing for the national team. Jarolim said he's open to calling him up should he continue his impressive form, or better yet, move abroad, where a few Dutch and German clubs have been tracking him. Should he acquire citizenship, I'd be fine with giving him a chance. From what I've seen and heard, he's probably one of the best players in the league at the moment. Also worth noting that he's been involved with Czech football since 2009 and speaks the language. I'd imagine a largely negative reaction from Czech fans because of the "foreign" aspect, but honestly, as long as his involvement doesn't begin to interfere with the development of Cerny or Jankto, I'd have no problem with this.
I am fine with it. If he feels Czech, speaks the language, and wants to represent us, then more power to him.
Earlier in the week, Milan Petrzela announced his retirement from international football. Only four years too late. Today, our U21 team were drawn in a group consisting of Germany, Denmark, and Italy for the Euros next summer in Poland. Very difficult group, but with a team at full strength, I think we have enough attacking talent to compensate for the lack of promising defenders and goalies from this generation. In other news, Vrba's job with Anzhi is apparently in jeopardy. Though they won today, they've been struggling lately after a decent start.
Anzhi went all off November without a win and finally got one. Their squad really isn't that great to be challenging for titles, but should be midtable. As for our U-21s, yea it's a tough group but our youth is surprisingly really good. I worry a lot about Germany though. They are on a whole other level as usual.
OFFICIAL | We will face Czech Republic in June !🆚 🇨🇿🕰 05/06/2017 - 20:45🏟 TBC📺 @sporza / @RTBFsport #belcze #roadtorussia ⚽ pic.twitter.com/i0K6JmfsvK— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) February 21, 2017 Very much looking forward to this friendly. Nice to arrange a match with a top opponent for once. Will be a terrible idea in hindsight on June 6th.
The first international break of 2017 is quickly approaching and Jarolim will announce the squad within the next week. A home friendly with Lithuania and an away qualifier against San Marino. Haven't been able to post as frequently as I would've liked, so I'll just skim through the options at each position. The current goalkeeping trio should remain intact. One possible change is that Pavlenka may be preferred to Koubek for the second spot. No concerns here though. In the centre of defence, Kalas, Brabec, and Suchy are locks. Sivok is fit at the moment, but not necessarily needed for these games. Good opportunity to call Pokorny instead. Selassie and Kaderabek are obvious locks, though the latter is currently injured, but should be available. Novak is the clear first choice on the left side, however, the back up position appears to be vacant. I doubt Pudil will be called up. He's barely played within the last month. We could see a return for Hlousek or a debut for Lecjaks. Central midfield is by the far most confusing and unclear position right now. Besides Darida and Dockal, that leaves three, maybe four spots for anyone of Pavelka, Barak, Marecek, Jankto, Petrak, and now even Moravek. Hopefully Droppa and Mares are ignored. Horava also has a realistic chance, but his performance against Norway was shocking to say the least. Good problem to have I guess. The wingers will likely consist of Krejci, Zmrhal, Sykora, and one of Sural or Skalak. I honestly don't rate Zmrhal, but I think he'll retain his spot. Much to our convenience, Sykora is being used on the right side and has done quite well so far. Skalak has been dropped in recent games, so I'd imagine he'll miss out. Schick and Skoda are likely locks at striker. The third and possibly fourth spot will be down to Kadlec, Krmencik, and maybe a recently resurgent Vydra. Unfortunately, Necid is still struggling. Off to a slow start with Legia.
Schick has been doing real well for Sampdoria. He needs to be starting as mentioned. It may be crazy, but I'd like to see Selassie at RB with Kaderabek at right mid. Krejci can play the left mid spot, or we can put Krejci behind the striker and have Skalak our wide. Skalak has been doing well for his club of late as well. These two games are a good chance to get a formation and XI locked down, so I hope we take it.
Brankáři: Koubek, Pavlenka, Vaclík. Obránci: Brabec, Gebre Selassie, Kadeřábek, Kalas, Novák, Sivok, Suchý. Záložníci: Barák, Darida, Dočkal, Jankto, Krejčí, Sýkora, Zmrhal. Útočníci: Krmenčík, Schick, Škoda. Solid team here. My only question is the inclusion of Krmencik, who hasn't been in great form in recent weeks. I think Jarolim should've waited before naming a third striker. Otherwise, three more players will be called up. I wouldn't say this is our strongest team, but I think it's the most appropriate for these opponents and looks promising for the future. -----------------Schick------------------- -Krejci--------------------------Sykora- ----------Jankto------Dockal----------- -----------------Darida------------------ -Novak---Brabec----Kalas---Kaderabek- -----------------Vaclik--------------------
I hate having Darida so deep. He plays as an attacking mid for Berlin. We rarely play to Darida's strengths and he is arguably our best player.
A few changes have been made to the squad. After experiencing lengthy absences from the national team, Hlousek, Husbauer, and Celustka have been called up. Horava was also added to the team. With that said, Kaderabek will miss out due to injury. Happy to see Celustka finally acknowledged. Definitely won't oust Kaderabek or Selassie at RB, but he does offer versatility. I'm not too thrilled about Husbauer. I'd rather see an actual DM there. Schick had to be subbed off earlier today with an injury. I'm assuming Vydra would be the replacement.
Vydra continues to score in the championship so at least we have him. I am not sure why he wasn't called in to be honest. Hopefully Schick's injury was nothing serious and can still play. I am trying to piece together an XI, but I really don't know much about the guys from the Czech league. I would like to see Barak get some more minutes though. He will be playing for Udinese next season and has been doing pretty well for Slavia.
Yeah, Vydra definitely could've been called instead of Krmencik. Sounds like he's performing well in recent weeks. From what I've heard, he's better off playing behind or alongside another forward, as opposed to a lone striker. As for the lineup, I think our first team is good, but our bench is underwhelming. I'd like us to field a similar team in both games with certain players being prioritized over others. I'm most looking forward to seeing Kalas, Brabec, Barak, and Jankto. Hopefully they're given space. Schick will definitely miss the friendly on Wednesday. His status for Sunday is still questionable, but I doubt he'll be risked. He would've been fun to watch against this opposition.
Vaclik - Selassie, Sivok, Brabec, Novak - Dockal, Darida, Barak - Krejci, Skoda, Zmrhal Jarolim plans to rotate the entire XI at half as he did against Armenia. I really don't understand why he feels the need to do this again. Anyways, the game is being played in Usti nad Labem and is expected to be sold out.
We won 3-0. I couldn't watch the game seeing as today is a work day, but I am glad we won convincingly, but it seems that our best XI was unable to do anything against Lithuania, and it wasn't until we subbed out our full XI that we got going.