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The Czech Republic qualified for the Euro 2008 topping Group D in front of one of tournament's favourites, Germany.
They sealed their qualification through goals by Libor Sionko, Marek Matcejovsky and Jaroslav Plasil in a 3-0 win over Germany with two games to go and held on to keep the top spot with wins over Cyprus and Slovakia.
Defender David Rozehnal said it best after the Germany game saying: "Qualifying is nice, but the way we did it is even better".
Drawn in Group A with Portugal, Turkey and co-hosts Switzerland, the Czechs will open the tournament against Switzerland at the St. Jacob-Park stadium in Basel.
The team:
The Czechs must be included among those capable of carrying off the prize, however their performance has been tempered due to recent injuries to key players. It remains to be seen how players like Petr Cech, and Juventus defender Zdenek Grygera will perform following their absence due to injuries. Also, captain Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal), underwent surgery on his right knee and failed to recover in time for the tournament.
Chelsea keeper Petr Cech will be on goal despite the terrible luck with injuries all season, the latest a 50 stitches facial injury suffered in training in April.
In front of him, Czech Republic coach Karel Bruckner has David Rozehnal (Lazio) to lead the defense that conceded just 5 goals in qualifying. Radoslav Kovac (Spartak Moscow) will fill in the other central defender position, while Marek Jankulovski (AC Milan) seems certain on the left. For the right-back position, Bruckner has Tomas Ujfalusi (Fiorentina),Zdenek Grygera (Juventus), and Zdenek Pospech (FC Kodan).
The midfield might be a problem, especially without Tomas Rosicky . The Czech Soccer Association was even holding talks with Pavel Nedved (Juventus) for his return to the national squad. The Juventus midfielder, with 18 goals from 91 caps to his name, called time on his international career after the 2006 World Cup.
Jaroslav Plasil, (Osasuna), David Jarolim (Hamburg) and defensive midfielder Jan Polak (Anderlecht) are front runners for the midfield. Radoslav Kovac (Spartak Moscow) can also take a position in the midfield.
Upfront, leading goal-scorer Jan Koller (Nuremberg) will lead the attack, while Martin Fenin (Eintracht Frankfurt) part of the Czech U-20 team that finished second at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada in 2007, will fight for a place with Milan Baros (Portsmouth).
Coach:
Czech coach Karel Bruckner has lead several teams in the Czech League since the early seventies, before taking over as the coach of the Czech U-21 team in 1998. He stayed there until 2001 and the next year took over the helm at the senior national team.
Under his guidance the Czechs reached the semi-finals at the EURO 2008 in Portugal, and qualified for the 2006 World Cup where they were eliminated in the first round.
Bruckner has announced he will retire from the team following the European Championships.
Team record:
As an independent state, the Czech Republic has participated in each of the European Championships since 1996.
Their best record in those 4 appearances was runners-up at the Euro 96' in England, when they lost to Germany.
As part of Czechoslovakia, they have additional 3 appearances at the Euro, with one title in 1976.
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