🇨🇿🇨🇭 Ženy @ceskarepre_cz nastoupí v baráži @UEFAWomensEURO proti @nati_sfv_asf v následující sestavě.📺 15:50 živě @sportCT #ceskarepre #holkytaky #CZESUI #WEURO2022 pic.twitter.com/QgKH37qi9C— ženský fotbal (@zenyfotbal) April 9, 2021 Women's match kicks off in a a bit over an hour, 3-4-3 formation.
I just returned from my vaccine to see us win a penalty and go ahead. 1-0 with most of the 2nd half to play.
Match just ended 1-1, Switzerland equalized on a very weak penalty call (ours was also pretty weak). From the half I saw Switzerland are a stronger team, and we ran out of energy at about the 70 minute mark. Return leg is Tuesday
I saw some of the first half and thought both teams were evenly matched. I wouldn’t have even known Switzerland were favourites had you not mentioned it, but I only had a small sample size to draw from. I don’t think I’ll be able to catch any of the game tomorrow.
I won't be able to watch either. Switzerland certainly aren't unplayable on a strictly talent basis, but my impression was that they are better conditioned and their manager actually makes in match adjustments. We are very direct, and I think any win involves an early goal that lets us counterattack.
We are tied up late in extra time, our potential first appearance in a major women's tournament may be decided by penalties.
Svtikova missed her penalty, but quite frankly her goal in the match was another example of how above the rest of our squad she is. https://streamja.com/XablZ
I’ll just share my thoughts on Kudela in this thread as it relates to the national team. I’m honestly very happy that Kudela is banned for the Euros. It’s literally the only way Silhavy wouldn’t call him up and start him. We need to explore other (younger) options besides him and Celustka that will actually be relevant for when World Cup qualifiers resume in September. He’s 34 with just eight national team caps and only became a proven international player in recent years. Yes, he would help our current defence which remains a glaring weakness, but I see him as a quick band-aid solution much like Hubnik was at Euro 2016. I’d rather take my chances with Kalas and Zima at the Euros and hope they can become a regular partnership for the remainder of this World Cup cycle. Our central defence will continue to lag behind if we don’t select players with any upside or potential to contribute into the 21/22 season and beyond. Of course, there’s all the needless drama and attention that we’d draw to ourselves by including him, so good to avoid the inevitable distractions for our team and any backlash we’d deservedly receive.
He's 34 and has far more naturally talented young players like Zima and Krejci aiming for national team spot, so might as well go ahead and retire from international play.
I saw Holes played centerback against Arsenal, so maybe that is a spot we might look to play him for the national team? Jemelka also seems to be doing ok in Belgium.
I’d say the current depth chart at CB looks like this: RCB - Kalas, Celustka, Simic LCB - Zima, Brabec, Jemelka It’s crucial that Celustka plays RCB for us. Watching him this past international break and at Sparta, he is just so awkward playing on his offside and has become a liability at LCB. Same could be kind of said for Kalas. Neither are great with the ball, so it’s important they play on their more natural sides. Realistically, Brabec will be in contention no matter how casual and bad he plays at Plzen because of Silhavy. I personally would take Krejci II as the back up LCB to Zima and as an additional midfield option. Always good to have a versatile player in the squad at a major tournament, but I feel Silhavy will continue with Holes (not a fan of him as a national team player with the other options we have).
So is Boril, but I didn’t have any expectations of Holes at CB even if he managed well the last game. What’s concerning is that Zima is a totally different player when Kudela isn’t playing next to him.
Ladislav Krejci II suffered a season ending injury ruling him out of contention for the Euros. A shame because he was in really good form at Sparta this spring after being a standout performer at the U21 Euros. I’d have definitely picked him as a back up midfielder / centreback to integrate him into the senior team, and I even think Silhavy was strongly considering him. We’re already just under 8 weeks out from our opening match with Scotland. Do you guys care for a separate Euro 2020 thread? I’d probably open one at the start of May.
Yea Id say let's get a separate thread for the euros. Even whenever/if we get eliminated, we can also use that for random chat about the euros.
We are pleased to present you the new Czech national team away kits by @pumafootball 👕🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/kpENVFmySD— Czech Football National Team (@ceskarepre_eng) April 22, 2021 We need to seriously end our partnership with Puma at this point as they continue to produce shockingly underwhelming kits. The good news is that these new traditional white shirts will replace those hideous yellowish-green jerseys, so in that sense I’m a fan of them.
Yea I saw that this morning and my first thought was, That's it? It's so minimal which sometimes can be nice, but this is just boring. It's a major tournament. Let's get something interesting or designed well.
The age old question, who is your country's Freddy Adu? This could make for an interesting evening debate: who is, for you, the "Freddy Adu of Czech football"?Necid is far from a contender for me, but I'd go with another Bohemians-related name: Nicolas Šumský. He's recovered quite well lately, but his 15-25yo trajectory is on point. https://t.co/5pH83qMbxK— Czech Football 🇨🇿 (@czechfooty) April 22, 2021 My first thoughts are Necid or Kadlec, but they both really are more injury stories. This is also sort of true of Kalouda who was next in my head, and definitely deserves consideration. In terms of simply being a great teenage player then doing ********-all but bounce around random clubs for a decade the closest match is probably Martin Fenin for me.
I’d also say Fenin is the most accurate match. I feel we’d have an entire XI that sort of meets this criteria (though mostly more to injury). Necid definitely didn’t amount to the hype from his early playing days, but still had a respectable career. A few decent years in the Eredivisie and a good season in Turkey. He was also an established international that was at Euro 2012 and 2016, so shouldn’t be in the conversation in my opinion. Of other current players I can think of that might be on similar trajectory paths would be Martin Graiciar and Vaclav Cerny. Probably unfair to even mention them (especially Cerny for his comeback season at Twente before injury) since they’re still young, but both were teenage wonder kids at one point. On a side note, the guy who posed the question often has some great exchanges with Danicek (after usually pestering him with some wild, impulsive take). I genuinely enjoy reading the replies for that reason and prefer their arguments over any notable Czech pundits.
I'd say it's Vaclav Kadlec. Very similar career as Adu. He was a super promising young player. We thought he'd be our next elite striker. Mix of injuries and not living up the hype derailed his career, then retirement.
Reading through that thread you can really see a big cluster of unrealized potential from about 2004-2011. These were the "talent of the years" for that stretch: Tomas Jun Martin Latka Daniel Kolar Martin Fenin Tomas Necid Adam Hlousek Vaclav Kadlec Compared to the rest of that group Necid had a rich full career despite his early injury setbacks. Kolar and Hlousek had some decent stretches as club players even if not great national team options Since then its a bit more mixed: Lada Krejci Tomas Kalas Matej Vydra Jan Baranek Vaclav Cerny Patrik Schick Jakub Jankto David Lischka Adam Hlozek David Zima So Lischka (serious health issues) and Baranek (retired at 24 due to multiple knee injuries) would fit with the earlier group. Cerny is a bit time will tell if he is in the same group and Krejci has been in constant decline since his mid-20s, but everyone else is on track for at least a decent career including national team appearances.
A few more forgotten players that come to mind in the first category would be Jan Simunek, Ondrej Mazuch, and Jan Moravek. All moved abroad at a young age to reputable clubs, but were decimated by injuries and had basically no senior international careers as a result. From 2012 and onwards, I’d say the biggest disappointment was Kalas. He’s still managed a decent club and international career, but was seen as the next big thing in our central defence, which is still the position we continue to struggle with most today. I mean, technically Vaclav Kadlec and Jan Baranek retiring is worse, but that’s more sad than it is disappointing. Looking back at our U21 teams from 2011, 2015, and 2017, I think the 2015 generation offered the largest player pool to choose from, but the 2017 team was clearly the jackpot with Soucek, Schick, Jankto, and Barak. I agree that the second group of players listed has been *much* more successful and even the few that weren’t as fortunate didn’t detract from an otherwise improved turnout overall. The fact that Ladislav Krejci declined and is irrelevant now doesn’t even matter with how our current national team is set up. I also don’t think Lischka was ever really that good anyways and only won because of the awful U21 generation he was part of (outside of Kral who in hindsight should of won that year).
The 2007 U-20 World Cup team stands out as a dud for me considering we were runners up. Only Suchy had a particularly noteworthy senior team career... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_FIFA_U-20_World_Cup_squads#_Czech_Republic
Yea basically all of these players never really made it into the big leagues. Disappointing from a team that did so well. Guess that goes to show these tournaments are not a good indicative of long term talent.