I will say, more open play since the first goal has really benefitted us with the current players we have out there.
That certainly looked like it should be a penalty live. edit: probably good call, Pavelka lost balance before contact
I feel like the story of our cycle was absences, including today. In some cases it allowed a few younger players to build their experience for the future (Sadilek, Zima, Hlozek), but it really disrupted our consistency. I have my issues with our management too, but it's been a very unorthodox qualifying cycle. Today wasn't pretty, but we did ultimately achieve our side of the equation which is at least better feeling than had Belgian won and we didn't get the 2nd goal.
For now I’ll just share my thoughts on the game today, which was actually quite entertaining despite the general poor quality. I’ve noticed Brabec has this weird history of occasionally playing very well for the national team (win v England in October 2019, Nations League in November 2020, and now today). That’s more or less the story of his career where his good form has always been very sporadic. Apart from one bad mistake near the touchline, I thought Zima was relatively solid and anticipated play well as did Brabec. I wasn’t all that impressed with Novak and would rather not have both him and Mateju on the roster when Kaderabek returns. The usual reliable right side of Coufal - Masopust was active, but very poor in the final third. Kral still didn’t do enough to suggest he’s improved, and at this rate, might just lose his roster spot in March if his workload at West Ham doesn’t increase. I think Krmencik is in a similar situation. Once automatic roster inclusions that are now being pushed aside by better, in-form options. Sykora certainly showed shades of the player that first emerged under Jarolim during this international break, but I still consider him a deplorable option like the rest (Pavelka, Kopic, etc.) that shouldn’t be considered in March whatsoever. I’ll shut it down there and turn my attention towards Canada, but if Alphonso Davies could resolve our leftback issues, I think we’d win the World Cup.
So ideally we want to draw Scotland, Russia, Sweden or Wales for our playoff. Really really want to avoid Portugal and Italy.
Italy is by far the worst draw, not just their quality, but the way the play is right to our weaknesses. I would say Scotland and Wales are the two most on our level, and very familiar opponents... Sweden are probably in the worst form. They were cruising to automatic qualification over Spain and then fell apart in the final rounds, especially against Georgia.
I honestly don’t think we’d beat Scotland again in Glasgow, especially in a full stadium this time. They’ve improved since the Euros and did outplay us on that occasion. Wales is probably the best draw for us, but I’d rather not play them again (same feeling about Scotland). My preference would actually be Russia, who I feel have always been somewhat overrated. We can beat Sweden, but they’re the kind of organized and efficient side that would trouble us. All I’ll say about Portugal and Italy is that we should’ve been on their side of the draw…
The biggest injury news: Provod's recovery timeline will be a photo-finish with the playoffs, he resumes training hopefully in January, but full training in February so may have a few rounds to test out before call up. Others: Cerny is back in full training and should resume matches at the club level soon. If he is in the same form as before he's easily an option on the wing. Kudela is out for the remainder of the pre-winter schedule All of the other missing players I think were short term injuries, expected to return.
Cerny coincidentally returned to action yesterday, albeit a brief substitute appearance. Unfortunately under Silhavy, I think his chances of being called up in March are somewhat slim. Jankto is another significant player worth mentioning. While initial speculation appeared much worse, his situation is still more long term. I don’t think he’ll return until the new year either. Schick I believe is close to returning if all goes to plan and could be available next round.
I still chalk up this qualifying campaign as a failure. We finished third in our group as we did for the 2010, 2014, and 2018 World Cup, and those were rightfully labelled failures without hesitation. Bottom line, we haven’t progressed. I naturally expected there to be stagnation under Silhavy post-Euros, but the importance of these qualifiers and prestige of possibly playing at a World Cup was completely undermined this fall. Thankfully, Fousek has outwardly expressed his frustration at this campaign and more or less suggested that our playoff results will determine the future of current management. Finally some accountability that remains to be seen in Silhavy and Co. Now the general argument and more so question raised in favour of retaining Silhavy has been, “Who exactly is a better replacement?” Well, after the past few seasons and more explicitly today, Martin Svedik.
The draw starts soon. In order of who I’d prefer: Russia Wales Sweden Scotland Portugal Italy Since Russia and Ukraine (unseeded like us) can’t be drawn together, we technically have the best chance of playing Russia which means we’ll draw Scotland again.
We are in playoff path B: - Russia v Poland - Sweden v Czech Republic I nearly had a heart attack watching us narrowly avoid path C which contains both Italy and Portugal. Overall, a relatively tough draw that could’ve been better (path A) or worse (path C).
That is manageable, not easy of course, but if we play our best we have a decent chance. We haven't played our best for a while though.