UEFA Euro Team Watch – Czech Republic

Czech Republic is a high ranked team but has been unable to make a mark in major tournaments since 1996 Euro Cup final. Lets see if this team can gain something this time.

Group A opponents - Poland, Russia, Greece

Past Records in Euro

Euro 1996 was their first international competition as Czech Republic (previously known as Czechoslovakia). In that tournament, they progressed to the final where they were beaten by Germany 2-1.

In 2000, they qualified for the finals of the tournament with 10 wins out of 10 games, but lost first two games to be eliminated even winning the third.

Unbeaten in 2002 and 2003 they entered the Euro qualifying campaign and easily qualified for Euro 2004. The Czechs entered the Euro finals as one of the dark horses for the title. In the group stages they won all of the three games, including the wins against Germany and Netherlands. Czech Republic faced Greece in the semi-final. Czech Republic were the only team to defeat all of their opponents to that point  and were the  clear favorites to win the trophy at that stage. The game was decided in extra-time with Traianos Dellas scoring the silver goal for Greece.

Euro 2008

The qualifying campaign was successful for the Czechs in 2008, where they finished above Germany on head-to-head records. They beat Switzerland and lost to Portugal before losing to Turkey by conceding three goals in the last 15 minutes of the game. That was another disappointing major tournament for Czech Republic.

Results

Win Switzerland – 1-0

Loss Portugal – 3-1

Loss Turkey – 3-2

Euro 2012

Road to Qualification

The road to qualification was controversial in many aspects for Czech Republic. However, they qualified for the finals of the tournament via playoffs.

                                                                    Probable Line-up

Petr Cech

Gebre Selassie - Sivok – Hubnik - Kadlec

Plasil - Jiracek

Rezek -  Rosicky -  Pilar

Pekhart

Most capped Players

Petr Cech – 89 caps (0 goals)

Milan Baros – 87 caps (40 goals)

Tomas Rosicky – 85 caps (20 goals)

Top Goalscorers

Milan Baros – 40 goals

Tomas Rosicky – 20 goals

Michal Kadlec – 7 goals

Man To Watch

                                                                Petr Cech

Petr Cech, the Chelsea goalkeeper needs no introduction. Cech has just arrived winning the Champions League for Chelsea and was the hero of the match with three penalty saves, including one in the normal time. He is the most capped player in the Czech team. He is set to take part in his fourth major international tournament. So Cech will be the man to watch for Czech.