EURO 2012 Blog

Play-off Winners
Coach Michal Bilek
One to Watch Vaclav Pilar

As we approach the summer of 2012 all of our minds, well most of them at least, will turn away from the domestic football competitions within our own countries, towards the International arena for the eagerly awaited European Championship Finals, to be held in Poland and the Ukraine. Within a fortnight from now, the world will know the names of the last four teams/countries, which will join the 12 nations already guaranteed a place at Euro 2012. Over the next three weeks, we shall be profiling each of the 16 finalists who will bid to become the champions of Europe until 2016.

We visit the Czech Republic for our next Euro 2012 team profile. The Czech Republic has only been an independent footballing nation since the early 1990s, they played their first match against Turkey in 1994 which they won comfortably 1-4. Prior to becoming a sovereign nation, the Czech Republic made up part of the Czechoslovakian team which competed internationally for over fifty years. The Czechoslovak team of yesteryear were a recognised force in international competitions, finishing runners up in the World Cup Finals of 1934 and 1962, and winning the European Championships in 1976.

Since separation, the Czech Republic have done fairly well on the international stage for such a relatively small country. They succeeded at their first attempt, qualifying for the European Championships in 1996, which were held in England. When the action got underway, the Czechs lost their opening group game to Germany 2-0, however, they were undeterred by this setback and, were able to put together a magnificent run of performances and results to become the surprise package of the tournament, reaching the final. Unfortunately for the Czech Republic, they would again face the Germans, and despite taking a 1-0 lead, they were pegged back, eventually losing to an extra time Golden Goal, scored by Oliver Bierhoff. The performances of the Czech team gained them a lot of admirers, and several of their star players, such as Karel Poborsky, Patrick Berger, and of course, Pavel Nedved, earned lucrative contracts at big European clubs on the back of their showing in the tournament.

After doing so well at Euro 96, Czech Republic were heavily fancied to go on and do well at World Cup 98 in France. However qualification did not go according to plan as the Czechs finished the campaign in third place behind Spain and Yugoslavia, therefore not making it to the tournament proper. Slightly unfortunate elimination in the group stage of Euro 2000 was followed up by yet another failure to make the World Cup Finals in 2002. Finishing second in their group, behind Denmark, the Czech Republic would face Belgium in a two legged play-off; they lost both legs 1-0. Undefeated in qualification for Euro 2004, a very strong Czech Republic side arrived in Portugal in great form. With the likes of Milan Baros, Jan Koller, and, the evergreen Pavel Nedved, the Czechs took the tournament by storm, winning all their group games and making it to the semi-final, where they were cruelly beaten by Greece, with an extra time Silver Goal.

Czech Republic qualified for their first World Cup as an independent nation in 2006. Full of high hopes after their success at Euro 2004, the Czechs arrived in the group stages, however, unfortunately for them and their fans, they also departed in the group stages, and said good-bye to, the retiring, Nedved and Poborsky. Group stage elimination at the hands of Turkey was to follow at Euro 2008, and failure to make the World Cup Finals in South Africa 2010 was the first time the Czechs had failed to make the grade since 2002.

Czech Republic finished second in their qualifying group, amassing 13 points and losing three matches along the way, two of those defeats were against the reigning World and European champions, Spain, so we can’t really hold that against them. They won their play-off against Montenegro 3-0 on aggregate and thus qualified for next summer’s finals in Poland and Ukraine. The Czechs under manager Michal Bilek are a solid, well-disciplined outfit, who are hard to beat, if somewhat lacking in flair. They have many experienced players such as Petr Cech in goal, Tomas Rosicky (c) in midfield, and Milan Baros up front, as well as a couple of exciting youngsters breaking into the team. One of these youngsters to look out for is Vaclav Pilar, he is a 23 year old attacking midfielder, who’s recently signed a contract with Wolfsburg in Germany, rated very highly in his homeland, Pilar scored a tremendous goal to put the Czechs in command of their play-off first leg.

The Czech Republic have done well to make it to Euro 2012, they are a decent side, who may prove difficult to beat, but they will need a favourable draw to avoid group stage elimination.