Rajtoral, Suchý and Kolář make cut for Czechs
Monday, May 14, 2012
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Czech Republic coach Michal Bílek says he faced three tough decisions before plumping for František Rajtoral, Marek Suchý and Daniel Kolář in his provisional UEFA EURO 2012 squad.
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Czech Republic coach Michal Bílek has announced his 24-man provisional squad for UEFA EURO 2012.
The Czechs have two friendlies – against Israel on 26 May and Hungary on 1 June – before heading to the finals, with their definitive squad to be confirmed on 29 May. Bílek does not expect any changes before the tournament, though still has to resolve the goalkeeping situation. "We have four goalkeepers in the squad now," he said. "Petr Čech will be playing in the final of the Champions League and will join the team later.
"Jaroslav Drobný has problems with an injury, so we are taking Tomáš Grigar to be certain of having two fit keepers in training. But if fit, the three goalkeepers we will include are Čech, Drobný and [Jan] Laštůvka. There were three pairs of players I hesitated over. It was Zdeněk Pospěch or František Rajtoral, Marek Suchý or Jan Rajnoch and Daniel Kolář or Jiří Štajner. It was not easy to decide.
"Rajtoral did a very good job in Plzeň, he is a modern right-back and we preferred him. Suchý was with us at the beginning of the qualification campaign, his performances significantly improved recently and that is why we preferred him. Lastly, our first choice to replace Tomáš Rosický if he cannot play is Kolář."
The Czechs' tournament begins against Russia in Wroclaw on 8 June, with Greece to come four days later and co-hosts Poland their opponents on 16 June.
Provisional squad
Goalkeepers: Petr Čech (Chelsea FC), Jan Laštůvka (FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Jaroslav Drobný (Hamburger SV), Tomáš Grigar (FK Teplice).
Defenders: Roman Hubník (Hertha BSC Berlin), Michal Kadlec (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Tomáš Sivok (Beşiktaş JK), Daniel Pudil (AC Cesena), David Limberský (FC Viktoria Plzeň), František Rajtoral (FC Viktoria Plzeň), Theo Gebre Selassie (FC Slovan Liberec), Marek Suchý (FC Spartak Moskva).
Midfielders: Tomáš Rosický (Arsenal FC), Petr Jiráček (VfL Wolfsburg), Daniel Kolář (FC Viktoria Plzeň), Václav Pilař (FC Viktoria Plzeň), Jan Rezek (Anorthosis Famagusta FC), Jaroslav Plašil (FC Girondins de Bordeaux), Milan Petržela (FC Viktoria Plzeň), Tomáš Hübschman (FC Shakhtar Donetsk).
Forwards: Milan Baroš (Galatasaray AŞ), Tomáš Pekhart (1. FC Nürnberg), David Lafata (FK Jablonec), Tomáš Necid (PFC CSKA Moskva).
