Second chance for Czech Republic and Belarus

Czech Republic and Belarus will try to put the disappointment of semi-final defeats behind them and focus on their remaining goal at the Under-21 finals – securing a trip to the 2012 Olympic Games.

• Both teams suffered extra-time losses on Wednesday – the Czechs going down 1-0 to Switzerland and Belarus succumbing 3-1 against Spain – but they should not be short of motivation for this third-place play-off.

• While Belarus are chasing a first appearance in the Olympic football tournament, the Czechs are hoping to reach their second Games as an independent nation, having featured in 2000. As part of the former Czechoslovakia, they won the gold medal in 1980 and silver in 1964.

Match background
• Czech Republic would settle for a repeat of the teams' friendly meeting in Uherske Hradiste on 25 March, a 2-0 victory secured by goals from Tomáš Pekhart (penalty, 30) and Zdeněk Šmejkal (51).

• The lineups were (*at 2011 finals):
Czech Republic: Hanuš*, Čelůstka*, Suchý*, Hošek (Mazuch* 86), Lecjaks*, Gecov*, Dočkal (Vošahlík 62), Hořava* (Mareček* 46), Valenta (Vácha* 62), Šmejkal (Kovařík* 69), Pekhart* (Ondrášek 62).

Belarus: Gutor*, Veretilo*, Filipenko*, Politevich*, Polyakov* (Bukatkin* 69), Dragun*, Sivakov*, Gordeychuk* (Kuntsevich 84), Baga* (Matveychik* 58), Rekish* (Rusetski 69), Skavysh*.

• The teams' five previous meetings were all in U21 Championship qualifying:
06/09/06 Czech Republic 2-1 Belarus
05/09/03 Belarus 1-0 Czech Republic
16/10/02 Czech Republic 3-0 Belarus
06/10/95 Belarus 0-3 Czech Republic
28/03/95 Czech Republic 2-0 Belarus

• Overall the Czech Republic hold the upper hand with five victories and one defeat.

• Vladimir Šmicer, who now works in the coaching team for the senior side, scored twice in the 3-0 win against Belarus in October 1995. Radek Černy, a former SK Slavia Praha youth team colleague of U21 coach Jakub Dovalil, also featured in the 1995 ties.

• Šmicer later struck for the Czech Republic in a 3-1 UEFA EURO 2004 qualifying triumph over Belarus in September 2003 – the last of five straight wins in senior internationals between the countries. Petr Kouba, today's U21 goalkeeping coach, kept a clean sheet in the first meeting – a 2-0 Czech victory in EURO '96 qualifying in Minsk.

• Václav Kadlec scored for the Czech U17 side in a 4-1 victory against Belarus in a third-place match at the Syrenka Cup tournament in Radom, Poland on 30 August 2008.

• Czech Republic defender Marek Suchý and Belarus defender Yegor Filipenko are both contracted to FC Spartak Moskva, but have never played together. Filipenko is now on loan at FC BATE Borisov having spent the 2010 season with FC Sibir Novosibirsk.

• With two goals apiece, Czech Republic captain Bořek Dočkal and Belarus forward Andrei Voronkov remain in contention for one of the tournament's scoring prizes. Only Adrián López (five) and Admir Mehmedi (three) have scored more than them and there will be adidas gold, silver and bronze boots awarded to the top three.

• There have been two previous U21 finals play-offs with an Olympic berth the prize:
2007 (Netherlands, fifth-place play-off): Portugal 0-0 Italy (3-4 pens)
2004 (Germany): Portugal 3-2 Sweden (aet)

• Squad members eligible to play in the 2011/13 UEFA European Under-21 Championship:
Czech Republic – 5: Jan Chramosta, Václav Kadlec, Jan Lecjaks, Lukáš Mareček, Marek Štěch
Belarus – 4: Dmitri Baga, Vladimir Khvaschinski, Sergei Politevich, Denis Polyakov

Czech Republic news
• The Czech Republic lost 1-0 to Switzerland in the second semi-final in Herning on Wednesday. Mehmedi scored the only goal six minutes from the end of extra time to send the Swiss into their first final at this level.

• Forward Pekhart limped out of the Herning Stadion with a bag of ice in hand to try and ease a dead leg, though he should be available on Saturday.

• Coach Dovalil said of his team's semi-final defeat: "I'm really disappointed. We produced a tragic display. The players didn't do what we had said we would before the game. It was one of the worst performances since I took charge."

• The squad packed their bags in Viborg and headed for their hotel in Aalborg ahead of Saturday's game. They studied DVDs of play-off opponents Belarus on Thursday evening.

• National team coach Michal Bílek, Šmicer and Football Association of the Czech Republic (ČMFS) president Ivan Hašek were all present to see Sunday's victory against England.

• Dovalil sent on substitute Chramosta, who scored the Czechs' crucial equaliser against England in Viborg, without having him warm up so the FK Mladá Boleslav striker would not be nervous.

• Chramosta scored the decisive penalty in the shoot-out that won his club the Czech Cup last season at the expense of SK Sigma Olomouc, who had current U21 squad member Tomáš Hořava in their ranks.

• Nine players who have come through the ranks of Slavia Praha are in the squad: Marcel Gecov, Jan Kovařík, Dočkal, Milan Černý, Lukáš Vácha, Pekhart, Jan Hošek, Jan Hanuš and Suchý. Dovalil also started out at the Prague club, reaching the reserve team as a player, and later worked in their coaching system.

Belarus news
• Voronkov's 38th-minute goal in Viborg looked as if it would give Belarus a surprise win against Spain only for Adrián López to equalise with a minute remaining. Adrián scored again in extra time before Jeffren Suárez also found the net to give Spain a 3-1 win.

• Spain had 73% possession against Belarus – the highest percentage of any team in a match in these finals.

• The players had a full day off on Thursday following their defeat by Spain. The Belarus management decided to stay at the same hotel for their final fixture, rather than move closer to Aalborg, the venue for the Olympic play-off.

• Belarus became the first team since Serbia and Montenegro in 2006 to progress to the semi-finals with three points. They also had a goal difference of -2. Only three sides have previously reached the knockout stage with a negative tally: Serbia and Montenegro in 2006 (-1), Portugal in 2004 (-1) and Czech Republic in 2002 (-1).

• Belarus reserve goalkeeper Artem Gomelko returned to his club FC Lokomotiv Moskva on Sunday because of an injury to Anton Amelchenko, who is also Belarusian, and the suspension of first-choice custodian Guilherme. With Gomelko in goal, Lokomotiv lost 3-1 at PFC CSKA Moskva on Wednesday.

• Sergei Matveychik is available after missing the semi-final following his dismissal in the final Group A game against Switzerland.

• Filipenko's father is in Denmark and has attended all of Belarus's matches so far.

• Baga's elder brother Aleksei featured for the Belarus U21 team that qualified for the 2004 finals. He was the captain of a team that featured the likes of Aleksandr Hleb and Sergei Kornilenko; Aleksei's wife, Natalia Marchenko, is a basketball player and is currently representing Belarus at the European Championship in Poland.