Waiting for the young Czech Republic team to make a surprise at EURO 2024

The EURO 2024 ball has officially rolled onto the German pitch and fans across Europe and the world are anxiously waiting to see which team will lift the prestigious Henri Delaunay silver cup on the night of July 14 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

Most experts and fans predict that the championship will be difficult to escape from the hands of top candidates such as England, France, Italy, Portugal or host Germany, especially after the demonstration of power of the "German Tanks" in the opening match against Scotland.

However, the round ball always contains interesting surprises and many teams are expected to become "dark horses", including the young Czech Republic team.

Journey to EURO

At EURO 2024, the Czech Republic is in Group F with Portugal, Türkiye and Georgia. This is the 11th time the Czech Republic has participated in EURO (including its predecessor, the famous Czechoslovak team) and the 8th consecutive time since EURO 1996 in England.

In qualifying, the Czech Republic finished second with 15 points after 4 wins, 3 draws and a single loss to group leaders Albania.

The Czech Republic even won 4 points in two matches against highly rated opponent Poland (1 win, 1 draw), making the "White Eagles" only win third place and reach EURO 2024 with a "survival ticket" after passing two play-off rounds.

Coach

Leading the Czech Republic to EURO 2024 is coach Ivan Hasek. The 60-year-old strategist has only taken on the role of captain of the crystal country football team since January, replacing his predecessor Jaroslav Silhavy.

As a player, the Kralove-born coach played as a central midfielder and was known for his combative style of play. He captained Czechoslovakia at the 1990 World Cup in Italy and made 56 appearances for Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, scoring five goals.

This is also Hasek's return to the national team after 15 years, when he previously served as coach for a short time from July to October 2009.

Notable gameplay, tactics and players

Coach Hasek places great importance on balance in his play between defence and attack, emphasising solidity and ball control in midfield, while making the most of quick counter-attacks and set-pieces.

The 60-year-old strategist also believes in a highly cohesive team-oriented style of play thanks to the understanding of the players, with 15/26 players he brought to Germany currently playing for the top 3 clubs in the Czech Republic National Championship: Sparta Praha, Slavia Praha and Viktoria Plzen.

Coach Hasek's preferred formation is 3-4-1-2, or can be changed to 5-3-2 if the priority is on defense. The core of the Czech Republic's play is 29-year-old captain Tomas Soucek.

The central midfielder of Westham United (England) is 1m92 tall and is also the most experienced international player on the team with 68 appearances for the national team.

Soucek not only plays solidly and persistently in the central area with the ability to launch "bright" passes, but is also an extremely dangerous weapon for the Czech Republic team with aerial duels in set pieces.

Captain Soucek's good partner in midfield, central midfielder Michal Sadilek, had to regrettably leave EURO right before the opening day of the tournament due to an injury from falling off a tricycle while training in Austria, forcing coach Hasek to make some adjustments to the squad.

Antonin Barak, a 29-year-old midfielder from Fiorentina (Italy), who is 1.90m tall and famous for his sharp passes and powerful long-range shots, is originally assigned to the attacking midfielder position, but may be moved down to play alongside Soucek to form a solid shield with class and experience for the defense.

Barak's No. 10 position could be given to talented young midfielder Pavel Sulc, 23, of Viktoria Plzen. Another possible option for coach Hasek is to pair Soucek with Sadilek's replacement, 26-year-old midfielder Vaclav Cerny.

This player of Bundesliga club Wolfburg is even rated higher than Sadilek by coach Hasek in terms of creativity as he is a box-to-box midfielder who can play well in positions number 6, number 8 and number 10.

Soucek's teammate at Westham United, 31-year-old defender Vladimir Coufal, is also a key player in the Czech Republic's style of play, with his tireless ability to attack and defend on the right wing.

The Czech Republic's hopes of scoring a goal rest on the striker pair led by Patrik Schick. The 28-year-old centre-forward was joint top scorer at EURO 2020 with five goals, including a superb strike from about 50 metres that was nominated for the Ferenc Puskas award.

Schick is at the peak of his powers and is determined to repeat his achievements from the last EURO. His strike partner is likely to be his partner at Leverkusen, 21-year-old striker Adam Hlozek.

While Schick tends to play as a striker, Hlozek is considered a great addition to his teammates thanks to his ability to roam and move widely.

In particular, the two are very compatible with each other and have just experienced a historic season together in Germany when winning the double with an unbeaten record and reaching the final of the UEFA EUROpa League (losing 0-3 to Atalanta of Italy). Most likely, EURO 2024 will be a great opportunity for Hlozek to step into the light.

Strengths

The Czech Republic is the third tallest team at this EURO (185.9 cm), behind only Serbia (186.5 cm) and Denmark (186.2 cm), so the high ball is one of the team's most powerful weapons, especially in set pieces or when facing a deadlock against defensive opponents.

In Hasek's attacking style of play, the ideal physique and aggressiveness of the Schick-Hlozek duo are well suited to crosses from the flanks.

The reserve strikers for this duo are also very sharp in taking advantage of high ball situations, such as Jan Kuchta of Sparta Praha club (1m84) and especially "pole" Tomas Chory with a height of 2m.

In addition, midfielders Soucek and Barak and the Czech Republic's central defenders also proved to be very dangerous in aerial situations when joining the attack.

Limit

The Czech Republic has youthful energy as the team has the youngest average age in the tournament at 25.74 years old, with only two players over 30 years old: defender Vladimir Coufal and midfielder Tomas Holes, both 31 years old.

However, coach Ivan Hasek's team is also the team with the least international experience in the tournament, with the average number of appearances of the players being only 15.9 matches, far behind the team leading in this statistic, Croatia (45 matches), or the direct opponent in the same group F, Portugal (43.5 matches).

It can even be said that EURO 2024 will be the first international tournament for many Czech Republic players.

According to experts, the lack of experience in major tournaments of the young Czech Republic players could put the team at a disadvantage, especially at important moments that require the players' strong mentality and extensive playing experience.

Prospects surprise

According to the schedule in Group F, the Czech Republic will face Portugal (June 19), Georgia (June 22) and Türkiye (June 27).

The opening match against Portugal is considered the biggest challenge for coach Hasek's team and the chance of winning is not high when the "European Selecao" is considered a strong candidate not only for the top spot but also for the championship and also has a very good record against the Czech Republic in the past (won 5, lost 1, drew 0).

Meanwhile, Georgia will be the opponent. The Czech Republic must win all 3 points before facing a decisive match in the final round of the group stage with a team considered to be on par with Turkey for a ticket to the round of 16.

Although the Czech Republic is ranked by experts as one of the teams least likely to win the championship, this may help coach Ivan Hasek and his team enter the tournament without too much pressure on performance.

In a tournament that always contains many surprises like EURO, when taking the field with a comfortable mentality and free feet, Czech Republic fans can completely hope that the young players will create moments of emotional sublimation on the German pitch to help the team from the land of crystal pass the group stage and go as far as possible, even becoming a big surprise at EURO 2024./.