Czech Republic out to hold off England push

England and Czech Republic face off in Viborg with a UEFA European Under-21 Championship semi-final place on the line.

• Stuart Pearce's England side drew for the second time in Group B on Wednesday, following their 0-0 stalemate with Ukraine. The Czech Republic were brought down to earth after their opening win, losing 2-0 to Spain.

• England will be through with a win and out with any other result.

• The Czech Republic will progress with a victory. They will also qualify with a draw unless Ukraine defeat Spain by three goals or fewer. However if Spain lose exactly 3-0, then the Czech Republic would qualify with a high-scoring draw of 2-2 or more, but not 1-1 (due to their inferior coefficient) or 0-0 (on overall goals scored).

Match background

• These sides have played four times at U21 level, with one win each and two draws.

• Their only competitive meeting came at the finals of the 2007 European Championship, with England – coached by Pearce – earning a 0-0 draw.

• Their friendly results are:
18/11/08 England 2-0 Czech Republic, Sheffield
17/11/98 England 0-1 Czech Republic, Ipswich
09/06/93 Czech Republic 1-1 England, Saint Cyr

• The Czechs' 1998 friendly win came under the leadership of future senior national team coach Karel Brückner, Tomáš Došek scoring their goal.

• England's victory ten years later came courtesy of goals from Fraizer Campbell and Craig Gardner. Following that defeat, the Czechs went unbeaten for 16 games until a 1-0 friendly loss against France on 29 March 2011.

• Czech goalkeeper Marek Štěch is yet to make his competitive debut for English side West Ham United FC, but has featured in the lower leagues with Wycombe Wanderers FC and AFC Bournemouth.

• Czech forward Tomáš Pekhart was a Tottenham Hotspur FC player between summer 2006 and January 2010 but did not make a single Premier League appearance. He did, however, feature nine times for Southampton FC while on loan in 2008/09. Defender Marek Suchý also had a trial at Tottenham in 2008 while Václav Kadlec trained for one week at the Liverpool FC academy.

• At U19 level, four meetings between the two sides have ended in three Czech wins and one for England. A Czech side coached by Jakub Dovalil beat England 2-0 on home soil in the 2008 European Championship,  Tomáš Necid scoring both goals in Jablonec nad Nisou. Jakub Heidenreich was sent off after 72 minutes.

• The sides for that game on 14 July 2008 were:
Czech Republic: Vaclík, Polák, Heidenreich, Brunclík, Řezník, Vošahlík (Lecjaks 75), Zeman (Štěpánek 85), Hable (Mareček 46), Morávek, Reinberk, Necid.
England: Button, Cork, Tomkins, Pearce, Bertrand, Sinclair (Obadeyi 64), Gosling (Chandler 78), Gibbs, Rose, Sturridge, Sears.

• England have beaten the Czechs in both of their European U17 Championship meetings, 2-0 in the 2002/03 élite round and 3-1 in the 2009/10 finals.

• Taking into account the results of the former Czechoslovakia, there have been 15 games between the two nations at senior level with nine wins for England and just two for their opponents.

• The Czechs have not won in six senior games against England since Czechoslovakia's 2-1 UEFA European Championship qualifying victory against England in Bratislava on 30 October 1975. Goals from Zdeněk Nahoda and Dušan Galis won the day after Mick Channon's opener.

• Czechoslovakia beat England twice at U18 level, 1-0 (1955) and 3-2 (1966) at the UEFA International Youth Tournament. England recorded a 3-1 victory in the 1969 edition.

England news

• Daniel Sturridge came closest to breaking the deadlock against Ukraine in Herning, striking the crossbar with a 33rd-minute long-range effort.

• The game was Pearce's 50th in charge of the Young Lions. His first match as coach of the team was on 6 February 2007, a 2-2 friendly draw against Spain.

• Henri Lansbury, a 57th-minute substitute against Ukraine, took a knock to his shoulder but should be fit for the Viborg decider.

• Jack Rodwell, Scott Sinclair, Fabrice Muamba and Phil Jones were booked in the Ukraine tie and along with Danny Welbeck, cautioned against Spain, will miss a possible semi-final if shown another yellow card on Sunday.

• The players had some time off on Thursday, with some going for a round of golf and others opting to explore the local town of Vejle.

• Centre-back Jones completed his move from Blackburn Rovers FC to Manchester United FC on Monday, signing a five-year contract in a deal thought to be worth up to €19m.

Czech Republic

• Two goals from Adrián – one in either half – consigned Jakub Dovalil's side to their first defeat in 12 matches in Viborg on Wednesday.

• Marcel Gecov said the defeat by Spain had done nothing to ruin team spirit: "It's much worse to be the better side and then concede a goal from a set piece right at the end. The Spanish were simply better than us. We have to live with that, and not cave in because of it."

• Ondřej Čelůstka had to drink four litres of water and even some non-alcoholic beer, and wait almost two hours before he could provide a sample for the doping control.

• Lukáš Vácha is suspended for the England game after picking up bookings in the first two games – Lukáš Mareček is likely to replace him. Ondřej Mazuch and Libor Kozák were also cautioned against Spain, and they join Pekhart, Gecov, and Jan Morávek as players just one yellow card away from missing a possible semi-final. Tomáš Hořava should be fit despite injuring an ankle injury in a training ground challenge with Kozák on Friday.