Brückner to rest key players

Unassailable lead
The Czechs top the group following their comeback victory against the Netherlands in Aveiro yesterday and, with six points, their lead is unassailable. Coach Karel Brückner's decision will not go down well with the Dutch, who need the Czechs to take points off the Germans if they are to reach the quarter-finals. "I will rest Nedved and some others," Brückner said. "But we have plenty of good players in the squad who can come in."

Welcome rest
Nedved will be grateful for the break. "It is great that we have qualified after just two games," the midfield player said. "But it has cost us a lot of energy and a little rest would be welcome." After breaking his goalscoring drought last night, striker Jan Koller is expected to join the captain on the sidelines along with Karel Poborský and Tomás Galásek, who following his booking yesterday will be banned from the quarter-finals if cautioned again.

Fine-tuning
But there is another motive behind Brückner's reshuffle. The game will allow him to fine-tune his defence, which leaked two goals inside the first 20 minutes against the Dutch. "So far we have played with only two outright defenders so it is time to raise our standards," the 64-year-old said. René Bolf, who missed the Netherlands match with a fever, will return to central defence, while Martin Jiránek will move to the right flank where Brückner has identified a problem. "Zdenek Grygera had a difficult game," he said.

Good momentum
Milan Baroš, who scored one goal and created another yesterday, is keen that the Czechs maintain their momentum with another good display against Germany in Lisbon. "We don't want to lose the self-confidence that we built up on Saturday," said Baroš. It is not yet clear whom they will face in the last eight, but when asked, Nedved replied: "I don't know, but I would like to avoid the Italians."