Narayana Rangan's

Czech Republic

Group A

Best finish : Runners up 1996

Current FIFA Ranking : 26

Czech Republic qualified for the Euro 2012 finals beating Montenegro in the Playoffs after finishing second behind Spain in group I of qaulifications with 13 points from 8 matches.They are drawn in group A along with co hosts Poland , Russia and 2004 European Champions Greece. Czech Republic remains the favorite to top the group with a stable unit and with lot of European experience.

Czech Republic team for this Euro have resemblence of the team of 2004 when the team reached the semifinals with players such as Pavel Nedved , Karel Poborsky. This Euros team have the creative enthusiasm of the team of 2004 lead by Nedved. Coach Michal Bilek have a team with the right mix and good stability with many players having European experience which will make it easy for the Czech Republic to reach the knock out stage without any upsets being suffered. Thomas Rosicky is the Captain for the Czechs and the Arsenal attacking midfielder well knows that the team have the ability and talent to go far in the tournament. There are 7 players from the Gambrinus liga ( Domestic league of Czech Republic) and the others are are from rest of Europe.

The Czechs relies on Tomas Rosicky to orchestrate its attack with Milan Baros of Galatasaray being relied for the goals. Jaroslav Plašil captain of FC Girondins Bordeaux plays at the middle of the park and provides the attacking players upfront the balls they need. Tomás Sivok of Besiktas who lead the defence would be hard for the attackers to break through. The attacking minded left back Michal Kadlec would be the key player in the defence and can often lead the charge on the break.Petr Cech after winning Champion Leugue with Chelsea would be fully charged and opposition forwards needs to work hard to get past this inform worldclass keeper.

Manager : Michal Bilek

Michal Bilek needs to prove things with this Czech Republic team. Bilek was appointed after Ivan Hašek who was in temporary charge of the team stepped down. michal Bilek had a new look team taken for the European qualifiers but had a disasterous start to the qualifying with 4 straight losses resulting in increased frustrations and he looked like he could not even last the qualifications. His team's poor performance raised many questions about the qualification to the Euros.

A much neede win against Scotland was followed by win at Liechtenstein the team entered the Playoffs and reached the Euros by defeating Montenegro. Michal Bilek has the strong support of his players and he once responded to it by saying " There wassometimes too much criticism and sometimes it wasn't justified. I am gald that I have stayed with the team".

Formation

Michal Bilek used 4 3 3 and 4 2 2 2 formations but Czech Republic had lack of width and they donot pocess the right set of players to use this formation.Michal bilek then settled with the 4 2 3 1 with captain Tomas Rosicky playing as the centre attacking midfielder behind Milan Baros or Tomas Necid who just returned back after injury on time for the Euros. The performance of the deep lying midfielder Jaroslav Plasil has given them the extra creativity to the team. With Tomas Sivok of Besiktas and Roman Hubnik of Hertha Berlin at the heart of defence the Czech Republic has 2 offensive fullbacks in Michal Kadlec and Selassie who can lead the charge on the break. Czech Republic under Michal Bilek are a organised side that likes to counter attack. With Chelsea's Petr Cech at the woodwork the Czech Republic can keep the Europe's best strikers at bay.

Squad for the Euros:

Goalkeepers: Petr Cech (Chelsea), Jaroslav Drobny (Hamburg), Jan Lastuvka (FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk).

Defenders: Theodor Gebre Selassie (FC Slovan Liberec), Roman Hubnik (Hertha Berlin), Michal Kadlec (Bayer Leverkusen), David Limbersky (FC Viktoria Plzen), Tomas Sivok (Besiktas), Marek Suchy (Spartak Moskow).

Midfielders: Vladimir Darida (FC Viktoria Plzen), Tomas Hubschman (Shakhtar Donetsk), Petr Jiracek (VfL Wolfsburg), Daniel Kolar (FC Viktoria Plzen), Milan Petrzela (FC Viktoria Plzen), Vaclav Pilar (VfL Wolfsburg), Jaroslav Plasil (Bordeaux), Frantisek Rajtoral (FC Viktoria Plzen), Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal).

Forwards: Milan Baros (Galatasaray), David Lafata (FK Jablonec), Tomas Necid (CSKA Moskow), Tomas Pekhart (FC Nurnberg), Jan Rezek (Anorthosis Famagusta).

Key player

Petr Cech

Petr Cech was the goalkeeper of the tournament in Euro 2004 but had a shakey tournament last time. But after the must inspired Champions League victory with Chelsea and signing of a new contract this shot stopper would be be entrusted to keep the strikers at bay. Petr cech is the best player in the Czech lineup and a exceptional performance from him would make Czech Republic reach levels that Peter Schmeichel and Oliver Khan did with their respective countries.

Key to Quaterfinals -Creativity of chances

The Czech republic have been decent at the back conceding only 8 goals in the qualifiers. The Czech republic looks real short of the creativity needed to take the game to the opposition and create the chances for the attacking players. Tomas Rosicky's injury is a blow for the Czech and also the form of their powerful, tall striker Necid who just returned after injury.

UEFA EURO 2012 Group A fixtures
Friday 8 June: Russia v Czech Republic, 20.45CET, Wroclaw

Saturday 9 June: , 00.15 IST,

Tuesday 12 June: Greece v Czech Republic, 18.00CET, Wroclaw

Tuesday 12 June: , 21.30 IST

Saturday 16 June: Czech Republic v Poland, 20.45CET, Wroclaw

Sunday 17 June 00.15 IST

IST Indian Standard Time