This game felt like a typical qualifier where we underestimate a weaker opponent and then fall behind relatively early. I won’t downplay how important these two wins were for Hasek and the team to get started on the right track. With that said, I expected much better from this lineup and a few players (Krejci, Hlozek, and Schick) disappointed me the most. The few shaky moments at the back (outside of Krejci) I can forgive due to the inexperience. Once more, I will repeat that Kral and Cerny can’t be left out of the team. Coufal is still a clear lock on the right side as Gabriel is not yet ready for this level and Doudera is a borderline international. Hranac was good and could very well take the place of Brabec, but I’d definitely still prefer Vitik instead of Vlcek. Overall, not thrilled about these performances and there’s still plenty to work on and quite a few roster spots to determine.
Finally found some highlights to watch, and it certainly painted a negative picture of Krejci's defensive performance. Schick don't even think showed up in the highlights, but Hlozek missed 2 chances he should have put away. Good to hear the Hranac and Vlcek adapted in a promising way. I wonder if Hranac will get some interest abroad since Plzen can be fairly easily lowballed and have been defensively impressive in the Europa Conference League.
I do think Schick has slowed down since the injuries. That was probably his worst international game, although I can’t remember him ever playing poorly for us. Sadilek put in a very pedestrian performance that sort of went overlooked and I’m again struggling with who to choose between him and Kral. The fact that we’ve exclusively used the same three players in that position forever now doesn’t help. From what I’ve seen this season, Hranac might be our most balanced defender. He doesn’t standout in any one particular area, but seems to be very steady and reliable. All three of Hranac, Vlcek, and Vitik got significant market value increases this week in the latest update.
UEFA are apparently considering returning to 26-man squads after managers (Southgate, Koeman, and Nagelsmann to name a few) expressed their concerns over the traditional pre-Covid roster limit being reinstated. Narrowing down our roster to just 23 players will be very tricky and an extra 2-3 spots would go a long way (felt like filler at the last Euros). Other than fullback and central midfield, there’s solid competition across the depth chart.
Just one injury to report on and it’s Hlozek who’s been out with an ankle injury he suffered two weeks ago. The recovery was said to be 3-4 weeks so hopefully he’s on track to return soon. Cvancara has since returned and made appearances off the bench. It does appear squad sizes will be increased for the tournament, just awaiting official confirmation.
At this point, I think the discussion regarding Hranac has now shifted from whether or not he makes the squad to who starts beside him at the Euros.. He’s currently the best (in-form) defender in the Czech league.
Dobrý víkend pro naše adepty do útoku pro Euro🔥🇨🇿Chytil 2 gólyChorý gólKuchta 2 gólyHložek 3 áčkaSchick gól— zdenek folprecht (@ZdenekFolprecht) May 5, 2024 This is probably the deepest, most well-rounded forward group we’ve had in the last fifteen years or so that I can recall. Chytil, Kuchta, and Chory are all having strong seasons, each offering different strengths to utilize, and with the roster expansion I do believe all of them will go. Cvancara is likely the odd one out after an injury-plagued season, although ideally he’d be there instead of Chory. Naturally, the main concern is that Schick remains our only proven goalscorer at the international level and is still a level above the rest.
Big congrats to the men’s national hockey team that won gold on home soil at the WHC after beating Switzerland in the final. An incredible tournament that saw the total attendance record broken (which we previously set as hosts back in 2015) and our first gold medal since 2010. The fans were outstanding all tournament. A totally different and refreshing atmosphere compared to what’s typically seen in North America, especially here in Toronto.
Our squad for the Euros will be announced tomorrow. The team below is what I envision if I meet right in the middle of what I expect from Hasek and what I’d decide on personally: Stanek / Kovar / Jaros Coufal / Doudera Holes / Zima / Krejci / Hranac / Vitik Jurasek / Rynes Soucek / Kral / Sadilek / Provod Barak / Cerny / Lingr / Sulc / Jurasek Schick / Hlozek / Kuchta / Chytil / Chory The players on the fringes: Jaros (Jedlicka / Vaclik) Vitik (Vlcek / Brabec) Rynes (Zeleny / Zmrzly) Kral (Kalvach / Sevcik / Cerv) Chory (Cvancara) Realistically, Cerny and Matej Jurasek are in this category too, but I feel they both must be there after the roster expansion. I’m also going to assume that Hasek is sensible enough to move on from the Belmondo case and not drag this out further to make a point (only to his own detriment).
https://www.fotbal.cz/repre/v-nomin...n-hasek-povolal-i-novacka-lukase-cerva/a20438 Not sure why Zima was ahead of Panak, but it's not a great option either way. It's sort of crazy we only have 7 players from the squad 3 years ago, but part of the inexperience of the lineup was being slow to incorporate new players throughout the last qualifying cycle.
So from my list, Kral and Rynes do not make it. I did expect Hasek would pick either Cerv or Sevcik instead of Kral, but not selecting a traditional back-up for David Jurasek surprised me. That’s definitely the most questionable decision for me personally. The favouritism of Slavia players is still abundantly clear though when not one of Panak, Rynes, or Zeleny are picked. That hasn’t changed since the Silhavy era. I do appreciate that Hasek is remaining committed to the upcoming World Cup cycle. The average age of this squad is 25.3 and will likely make us the youngest team in the tournament which is extremely positive. We’re also fully healthy with no known injury concerns which is miraculous for us. I’m very much looking forward to this tournament between having full stadiums again (in a single host country) and a rejuvenated team.
Our pre-tournament friendlies are incredibly underwhelming, starting with Malta today in Austria and then North Macedonia in Hradec Kralove on Monday. Hasek is weirdly insistent on not revealing much to our opponents to the point where I fear we’ll just hinder our own preparation as a result. There’s also seven players in this squad that were at the U-21 Euros just last summer and another four that were eligible to play in it but didn’t. It’s a very inexperienced team, especially the defence and goalkeepers which is quite uncommon. For this reason, I’m not going in with any real expectations. If a new coaching staff had the full qualification cycle I’d feel much differently, but there’s still a realistic chance of advancing with the expanded format.
We’re currently up 2-0 at half. I have the game on in the background but considered shutting it off it was so bad. The game has been a complete slugfest with lots of rough fouls. Kovar - Vitik, Hranac, Zima - Coufal, Sadilek, Jurasek - Barak, Sulc - Chytil, Chory I listed it as 3-3-2-2 because that’s exactly how it’s playing out. Sadilek is totally isolated in central midfield with Sulc and Barak playing further forward. To no surprise our towering tandem up front does not work despite Chytil scoring. I’m also quite concerned not having another left wingback in the squad with how Jurasek has looked. We won’t beat Georgia playing like this.
We ended up winning 7-1 and I’ll admit that running up the score felt good after the disgusting play and behaviour from Malta. Apart from a number of dangerous fouls throughout, one of their players was sent off for head butting Cerv towards the end. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a friendly… The second half became very loose after we made substitutions and the formation was barely identifiable. It looked as though Vlcek and Matej Jurasek were playing wingback while Sulc, Lingr, and Cerny were just roaming all attacking positions. First international goals for both David and Matej Jurasek, Lingr, and a brace for Chytil, but the main positive to takeaway is that nobody was injured thankfully (although Chytil was holding his hamstring before he went off).
Expected, but beating Malta unfortunately really shows us nothing, North Macedonia is at lease a team that may be able to park a more successful bus for us to practice breaking down. Two strikers that have the same basic skill sets was a choice.
Holy crap. Injury due to a fall from a bicycle on Saturday, day after the deadline for squad submission (but seems like there can be a replacement?). Heart-breaking for both the player and the team that is now even shorter on proven CM options. Will we see Krejčí the midfielder? https://t.co/ApiHZkKhz8— Czech Football 🇨🇿 (@czechfooty) June 9, 2024 What devastating news. Awful for the team and especially for Sadilek who’s in the prime of his career and would’ve certainly been starting. These pre-tournament injuries are always upsetting, but I can’t imagine the feeling of missing out after a bizarre off-field accident like this. Kral is the clear replacement for me and I’m surprised by how many have written him off entirely. He’s the only remaining option with enough international experience that’s familiar playing alongside Soucek. This is a chance of a lifetime for Lukas Cerv though, who more or less is a right footed version of Sadilek.
Out of respect, what I didn’t mention in that last post was my gut feeling that perhaps this incident wasn’t exactly a freak accident and was the result of a player (or three) deciding to pull a Jackass stunt a week before the tournament. The rumour is that Sadilek, along with Krejci and David Jurasek, went mountain go-karting at their own leisure. A quick Google search of “mountain go-karting” and sure enough the first result is a course for tourists in Schladming (where our team was based). It begs the question, what other group of three stooges in this team will be the next to announce themselves?
Stanek - Holes, Hranac, Krejci - Coufal, Soucek, Provod, Doudera - Hlozek - Kuchta, Schick Another very attacking lineup with basically no midfield cover depending on how Provod is positioned. I would’ve liked to have seen Cerv from the start for this reason, especially if he’s the replacement for Sadilek. I do think that forward pairing is our best at the moment and curious how Hlozek will look in that free attacking midfield role.
This system isn’t working at all. We’re in a bit of a conundrum where we almost have to play a back three with the centre backs we have, but should set up in a back four with wingers for the sake of our attack. I think we’ve managed to only play a single ball into the feet of Schick, resorting to these over-the-top long balls as usual. Soucek and Provod are getting far too many touches for what they offer going forward and Hlozek is again ineffective in our set up. We played most of that half at a walking pace, although it doesn’t help that our opponents have been time wasting since the start.
Schick pushes Soucek in the box and then converts the penalty that shouldn’t have been called. It also took like five minutes to take since Krejci got into a dust up with half the Macedonian team.
Hopefully we’ve learned our lesson arranging friendlies with these kinds of opponents. Another disgusting display with today’s theme being time wasting that’s reaching levels I’ve never seen before.
I'm not really watching, but comparing match stats to what has actually happened is alarming. We have 18 total goal attempts, of which 2 were on goal including the penalty that we shouldn't have been given. Those are desparately trying to equalize numbers, but we've never been behind and really only tested once (which surprise, we failed).
Another penalty right at the death and Barak converts. A 2-1 win which we’ll gladly take, but there were certainly more negatives than positive today. That’s failure to keep a single clean sheet against Armenia, Malta, and now North Macedonia. What’s most concerning was Hasek basically mirroring Silhavy by not changing the formation that clearly didn’t work and making like-for-like substitutions (and leaving both Cerny and Matej Jurasek on the bench). A 3-1-4-2 is an absurd formation even for weaker opposition.
Petr Sevcik has been named the replacement for Sadilek. After watching that game on Monday, I’ll admit that he’s exactly the kind of creative midfield player we lack right now despite not being in national team picture since the last Euros. I’d honestly start him in central midfield rather than Provod who I think is kind of overrated. He’s definitely improved this season, but I don’t understand why he’s viewed as an almost locked-in starter. My only gripe with Sevcik is that he’s not really a viable option going forward given his age and injury history. Merely an emergency solution for this tournament and nothing more. I do appreciate that the coaching staff actually took their time with this decision and didn’t rush the process. Silhavy would’ve called up the first available midfielder not on vacation even if they were semi-retired.