With Roy Hodgson already coming under fire for his Euro 2012 squad selection, it seems a perfectly topical time to get our coverage for next month’s tournament underway. We’re rolling out preview articles on all 16 participants, starting with our assessment of the Czech Republic…
The Czechs kick off their Group A campaign with a 7.45pm match against Russia on Friday June 8, the opening day of the tournament. Four days later, Michal Bilek’s men then pit their wits against Greece in the early kick-off at 5pm, before facing co-hosts Poland in their final group game on Saturday June 16 at 7.45pm.
The most open group of all, there’s no real stand-out certainties amongst the contenders, with any of the four looking capable of progressing to the knock-out stage. Greece were the most impressive qualifiers, finishing unbeaten and top of a six-team group that included Croatia. Russia also led the way over Republic of Ireland in their group, losing just once over 10 games, while Poland will be hoping their home backing can spur them on to at least the final eight.
The Road to Qualification
Bilek’s side were handed the most unenviable task of all in qualifying, drawn alongside defending champions Spain in a five-team group. While their record includes three losses from eight games, they were beaten home and away by Vicente Del Bosque’s side, in addition to a surprise defeat in their opening home clash with Lithuania. They managed just three clean sheets – picked up home and away against Liechtenstein and at home to Scotland – and scored 12 goals, conceding eight. Placed second in the group, they squared up to Montenegro in the play-offs and cruised through 3-0 on aggregate.
Most Appearances: Kadlec (10), Cech, Hubnik, Rosicky & Plasil (9)
Top Scorers: Kadlec (4), Rezek & Plasil (2)
Top Assists: Rosicky (6)
The Likely Lads
There’s nothing quite like a penalty-taking defender to whet the appetite. Michal Kadlec fits the bill here, having finished qualifying as top scorer with four goals – three of those as a result of converted spot-kicks. The Bayer Leverkusen man is the left-back in Bilek’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation and, priced at 5.5 in the McDonalds Euro 2012 game, is 0.5 dearer than any other member of the Czech’s backline. He offers a decent creative streak, too, finishing the recent Bundesliga campaign with four assists to his name.
Tomas Rosicky is the main creator. Playing in the hole behind a lone forward or in a deeper central midfield role, the Arsenal man picked up six assists over his nine appearances during qualifying and is also on free-kicks. His McDonalds price of 7.0 is the joint-costliest in the squad, though he arrives in strong form, with three assists in his last five for Arsenal. If injury should blight Rosicky’s game time, it’s worth noting that Bilek has recently revealed Daniel Kolar is his second-choice playmaker.
While he failed to impress in the qualifiers with just a single goal from seven appearances, Milan Baros looks set to lead the line. Priced at 7.0 in the McDonalds game, his top-level experience should see him get the nod over the likes of David Lafata, though the latter is clearly the player in form, having scored 25 goals in 27 games for Czech side Jablonec this past season.
Cheeky Punt
Roman Hubnik comes in at just 4.5 in the McDonalds game, 0.5 cheaper than his central defensive partner Tomas Sivok. Hubnik missed just one game over the qualifiers – through suspension – and also grabbed a goal. Sivok, however, has the greater attacking potential of the pair; his record of six goals in 40 games for Besiktas in 2011/12 attests to that. With an extra point for every 5 recovered balls in the McDonalds game, the centre halves could well prosper, with Hubnik offering the best value route into the Czech’s backline. Petr Cech, at 5.0, is the most popular keeper in the game so far, with over 33% ownership, while Hubnik has been snapped up by just 0.7% in comparison.
Jaroslav Plasil looks to be on corner kicks and is one of his side’s most trusted lieutenants. Playing all but one of the qualifying matches, he scored twice and comes in at 6.5. Although he plies his trade as a central midfielder for Bordeaux, Plasil is likely to feature wide right for the Czechs and could be a decent differential – he currently has just 1.2% ownership compared to Rosicky’s 24.8%. Jan Rezek is likely to play on the left of the attacking midfield three but has been classified as a forward in McDonalds – despite his two goals in five appearances and price of 6.0, Fantasy managers are likely to steer clear as a result.
