Czech Republic coach Karel Brückner believes his side's hopes of progressing from Group A will remain in balance until the final round of matches.
Tight group
The Czechs face co-hosts Switzerland on Saturday in the tournament's opening game in Basel, but with fixtures to follow against Portugal and Turkey in Geneva, Brückner told euro2008.com the race to reach the knockout phase would go down to the wire. "There's no favourites, no outsiders, all four have a chance of going through," said Brückner. "They say Portugal have a very good quality squad, but Turkey are very good, as they have many qualities, and I don't want to underestimate Switzerland, because they are playing at home. I think it will remain undecided until the last match."
Curtain-raiser
First, though, comes the tournament curtain-raiser at St. Jakob-Park against the co-hosts, who will be determined not to disappoint their public. However, while many have stressed the potential pitfalls of the encounter, Brückner said the partisan atmosphere would not affect his principles nor his players. "I'm not worried whether it is the first, second or third match, I believe in a good-quality performance. The main thing is to be prepared," said the 68-year-old, who will retire at the tournament's end after a six-and-a-half year tenure. "I know that we are playing against the home team, but I can't say that it's an advantage or a disadvantage. We have a good, strong team, and there shouldn't be a negative influence. "
Striker conundrum
While Jan Koller, who recently struck his 54th international goal to become his nation's all-time leading scorer, is almost certain to spearhead a three-pronged attack, the totemic striker's supporting cast is unclear. Milan Baroš did not feature in the final warm-up match against Scotland, and the UEFA EURO 2004™ top scorer could find himself left out in favour of FC Baník Ostrava's promising Václav Svěrkoš, who was a lively second-half presence in Friday's 3-1 win. It is the absence of artful midfielder Tomáš Rosický, though, that has caused Brückner the most concern. A troublesome hamstring injury that had kept him out of the second half of Arsenal FC's campaign required surgery, ruling him out of the tournament and forcing Brückner to change the tried and tested lineup which had pipped Germany to top spot in qualifying Group D.
'Big loss'
"It's a very big loss, that's for sure," Brückner said. "His creativity, his quality, his invention, his speed. It's not possible to replace him, and we haven't even tried to do it." Jaroslav Plašil and David Jarolím are instead relied upon to supply a creative spark from midfield, though Pavel Nedvĕd's decision to remain in international retirement meant Brückner was deprived of a ready-made replacement for Rosický. Nedvĕd was the key four years ago when Brückner's squad reached the UEFA EURO 2004™ semi-finals but while the current crop features fewer star names, the coach has faith in their ability. "It is not possible to compare, there are no criteria," he said. "These players are fit and healthy, and while they don't have the reputations of the players who were in Portugal, I think that we will be hearing more about them soon."
No comments:
Post a Comment