Czech Yourself

Manager: Michal Bilek

Captain: Thomas Rosicky

Star Player: Petr Cech

Bio: Ok so firstly this ends my Group A round up boy am I glad about that. No disrespect intended but this is the group that lacks a world class outfield player. I say Outfield because Czech Republic are blessed to have one of the very best goalkeepers in the world. Cech has been fantastic since signing for Chelsea and has won everything with them including the Champions League this season. The Czechs also boast the Euro 04 top scorer in Milan Baros who you may remember from his days at Liverpool and Aston Villa. He is currently playing in Turkey for Galatasaray. This isn’t a team full of stars, they have Baros, Cech and Rosicky and Kadlec is very underrated but you look at the others and most are flying under the radar at the moment.

The only thing I will say is don’t expect the Jan Koller lead team that got to the Semi’s in 04 nor is it the Karel Poborsky lead team that got to the final in England in 96. This team is not at that level. They Beat Montenegro in a Play off to get to the finals after getting 2^nd in a qualifying group that included Scotland and Spain (who won the group). For me they are a Quarter-final team but no further.

The player to look out for is CSKA Moscow’s Tomas Necid. The 22 Year old is very impressive when played as a Targetman and you can expect to see him lining up with Baros. If Necid doesn’t play they have a like for like in Tomas Pekhart who used to play for Spurs Reserves. But as I have stated before if your looking for a “Dark Horse” I would look elsewhere. Put this team in any other group and they wouldn’t get out of it. I expect them to get 2^nd in this group and then be soundly beaten by Portugal, Germany or Holland (sorry Denmark but if you think your winning your group, your wrong).