Summer’s over and so is EURO 2008 for the Czech Republic national team. It was too short to fully enjoy blogging because this blog has been proudly linked from BBC.co.uk and I wanted to post more frequently if my dominant hand hadn’t been wrecked so bad. That’s my only regret. Anyway, I’d like to thank EVERYONE who dropped by my cheesy blog and Daryl, who helped me out on any occasion.

The reasons of the Czechs’ self-elimination can’t be specified enough. No, it’s not the absence of Rosický, but for instance, their tactics changed like Baskin Robbins’ “flavor of the day,” unstable defense that is almost their tradition, dragging out “old” players just for their names, etc. If they needed someone experinced, they should’ve called Patrick Berger who’s always bragging that he’s ready, he’s prepared and blah, blah, blah all the time and test him to see how capable he is. With a 2-year contract with Sparta Prague that is in a better position than 1.FC Nuernberg, he could’ve performed alot better than those 2 players called up for warming the Czech bench.

People may take my post as “sour grape,” however, I’m not saddened at all. Transfer market will soon be open, and how many Czech players will be highly priced is my first interest. Then the qualifiers for the World Cup 2010 kick off in a few months(correct me if I’m wrong, my brain is screwed up as well as my biological clock because of damn tranquilizers). There’s no rest for the Czech Republic and the wicked, namely, me.

Upon Daryl’s approval, I will continue posting Czech Republic football-related topics(not only on the national squad but also on the Gambrinus Liga, the Czech domestic league) here while treating my hand.

Again, thanks a ton for taking your time to read thru my Czech Republic blog. If you’d like to contact me regarding the Czech Republic and Japan national teams and their domestic leagues, here’s my e-mail addy: Pani.Becherovkova[at]gmail.com

See you in Africa 2010, Czech-mates, otherwise, keep “czech”king out my blog! Na shledanou brzy!

I’ve turned off my damn mobile so that I won’t have to be bothered by damn SMS asking me
who’s doing “5W1H.” Leave me the $%&K alone! What a shame, the match isn’t shown live in Japan unless you sign up with some special paid channel as my buddy told me and they’re gonna show the recoreded match after Switzerland - Portgal. What’s attractive with Christiano Ronald? To me, he’s only a striker for the degraded Manchester United that means nothing to me who’s not really into English Premiere League.

If you frequently check the official EURO2008.com, you should know if our boys and the Turks played for 90 minutes(+injury time), we would both go into the penalty shoot-outs, which somehow makes me nervous with decreasing amount of Becherovka.

Some factors that relieve me are:
- Rozehnal is NOT looking to shoot-outs(saw his latest interview at UEFA.com podcast on my laptop).
- Mr. Brückner finally realized the almost *traditional* blind side of the Czechs, namely the defenders and decided not to let them go way up close to the Turkey goal and rather to keep them concentrate on their original role, namely, DEFENSE.
- That led the team to get(pathetically, IMO) prepared for shoot-outs during the training session although he and Rozehnal insisted they will surely WIN over the Turks.

The Czech starting line-up is:
Čech - Grygera, Ujfaluši, Rozehnal, Jankulovski - Sionko, Matějovský, Galásek, Polák, Plašil - Koller

Koller again!? Coolness, hope he will soon be replaced with Sverkoš in the first 10 minutes or so, and Martin Fenin will be added later. And give the ball to Sionko all the time, who is the most impressive and hard-working player so far, and he certainly DOES his job. HE IS THE ONE WHO’S GONNA PUSH US UP TO THE 1/4 FINAL!

Kdo neskáče není Čech, hop, hop, hop!

After winning the non-ardent first match against Switzerland, the Czech trainer Mr. Brückner and his squad reviewed videos of Portual squad matches and discussed the tactics for tonight. According to Mr. Brückner, they will stick to their basic 4-5-1 formation since there isn’t enough time left to make huge changes to the squad. However, he indicated that the Portguese tactics are predictable, and there’s a (IMO, “positive”) possibility to pull out Jan Koller and David Jarolím and add Milan Baroš and Marek Matějovský to replace them. YES! We don’t need a striker who doesn’t strike!

On the Portguese side, Deco announces his humble statement(<a href=”http://www.afp.com”AFP>: “The Czechs are the ones you better not undervalue. We wouldn’t make a mistake for getting our heads in the clouds more than we need. I show a great sense of respect to them paradoxically. It looks like a bit more difficult match than the previous game against Turkey. It means nothing to us the fact that Czechs won against Switzerland even though they had some problems.” Deco also adds, “We haven’t achieved anything yet, which means we are yet to be delighted.”

He also confesses that he is not in a 100% good shape as he had expected due to injuries he suffered during the last season in Barcelona. “My condition, I have to say, is likely to be perfect for the Turkey game, however, can’t say I’m fine for the Czech game.”

The probable starting line-up:

Portugal: Ricardo - Jose Bosingwa, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira - Joao Moutinho, Petit, Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco, Simao Sabrosa - Nuno Gomes

Venue: Stade de Geneve, Geneva, Switzerland
Kick-off: 18 o’clock at local time

and of course, ČEŠI, DO TOHO!

Time flies, can’t believe it was 4 years ago when I traveled around Portugal and ended up in Lisbon. Was completely speechless after the stunning semi-final, Greece - Czech Republic. No words to describe what was on my mind came up…didn’t taste anything…Was half-dead…

First of all, I’d like to remind you that football is a game played by 22 men, the trainers, and capable assistants and not something can be won by a few “star players.” The English football legend Gary Lineker said, “Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and in the end, the Germans always win.” Well put.

Sorry if I sound racist, but IMHO, the Turks eliminate themselves out of the group stage. Occasionally watching the Turkey domestic league matches and international matches that the Turkey squad involves, the players are too short-tempered to control themselves and often cause trouble with the refs. So do their supporters. Must be the toughest match. Hope no Czechs won’t get injured. And be careful before/after the match. If some drunken assholes start fighting, leave the place immediately. STAY OUT OF TROUBLE!

Portugal…like I said, you can’t win with a few selected stars. Deco? Christiano Ronaldo? Just crush’em so that they will lose control automatically. The easiest match to win. The Portguese supporters are basically quite friendly and they are good fellas to share a pint of beer.

I have to say, the Czechs cannot beat Switzerland because of UEFA politics not because of their potentials. With Alexander Frei, Philip Degen(whom I am quite familiar with as they are playing for my favorite German club, BORUSSIA DORTMUND) plus Valon Behrami(SS Lazio - no, I don’t support them), they could go through on their own, however, the implicit rule is, host countries won’t lose backed up by some invisible political (UEFA, in this case)power.

Remember, we, the Czechs ARE a “team.” If someone is missed, there IS always someone to fill in his spot. With or without Rosický doesn’t matter. We’ll just do all we can do. That’s pretty much it.

Overall, my predictions for Group A is:

1. Switzerland
2. Czech Republic
3. Portugal
4. Turkey

No matter whomever you support, BE SAFE and enjoy the match! Ask for the directions at hotels when you are lost and if necessary, tell them to call a cab to your hotel. The receptionists usually speak English, they are pretty much familiar with the area and are more helpful than the local police. Oh and make sure to grab a free match guide provided by the sponsors when you find them at the tourist infomation or fan meeting point. It helps.

On a brighter note, Tomáš “the kapitán” Ujfaluši who suffered a light abdominal injury in the past few days re-joined the training and departed for Basel with the squad today.

If you speak Czech, you should know what “Méd’a” means. My friend’s hubby made a small Czech jersey(away 06-07 w/ the backnumber 11 and says NEDVĚD) and let the tiny stuffed bear wear it as a talisman for the Czech squad and for me. Will be shipped out to me in a couple of days. The bear still needs shorts, socks and the mop-esque hair! LOL.

Since England isn’t qualified for EURO2008, most pubs aren’t showing the memorable opening match Switzerland - Czech Republic which majorly pisses me off. Thanks to my best friend into the Dutch(yikes!), I am going to manage to catch the match. on the 7th of June we have 3 important matches in a row. The first one is Hidetoshi Nakata’s “Take Action! 2008 +1″ (a sort of a charity match with guest players include Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Marco Marchionni and more. Then the World Cup qualifiers Japan - Oman comes on, and FINALLY EURO 2008! I’m almost broke but to show my gratitude towards my “Oranje” friend(though she has a soft spot for Baroš and she has a Czech Republic jersey w/ his name on the back) , I’ll bring some Czech beer and make her cook some Czech meals as well as Currywurst(German sausages with curry sauce on) and Pomme Fritz(french fries). Naturally, as my hand is not working, cooking has got to be her part. I can see that I’ll shout at her “NO! Czechs won’t cook that way and you totally suck at cooking!” Anyway we’re gonna turn her apartment into a stadium sure as hell. And absolutely my shopping list excludes Port wine, Lindt chocolate and Turkish coffee.

Well again off to bed… will post my predictions tomorrow in the last minute…
Kdo neskáče není Čech, hop, hop, hop!!!

Just spoke with someone in Seefeld over the phone and according to what he said it’s all quiet on the Czech front. Nobody in the Czech squad suffers serious injury and they are doing fine. Cant’ wait to fly out to Austria seeing how my attorney claims for loss and wins decent amount compensation since I got my hand crushed by this old lady riding a bike. I’m so tired of making photocopies and asking for receipts for everything I shop, and now I’m broke.Plus, it just came to my attention that my home phone w/ facsimile function passed away(RIP) and my GSM mobile’s terminal is dying which means I may have to file my civil damages suit.

Seeing Sionko succeeding the backnumber 7 from Šmicer turning into a TV reporter and after reviewing the content of Czech Republic - Scotland, I’m getting less pessimistic. The Czech boys won’t get injured as my damn phones went 6-feet-under and half dead.

Looking forward to fly out to Austria after paying my attorney and everything’s cleared. Just can’t keep my ass settled at some pub watching the matches on a huge screen w/ a pint of Heineken that costs me 9 EUR/pint among the ppl who dont know the sh*t about football.

Sorry this entry goes persal…btw, donations are welcome. j/k
will visit your blog later, Ian gotta take a nap for a few more hours…

Alright, back to football talk. Jankul got awarded for the footballer of the year and Mr. Brückner was also awarded a prize of the coach of the year(probably his last award considering the fact that he had annonced his retirement from the national team). My question is, would it spice up the Czech squad? As far as I remember, (no offense please), I don’t think I saw Jankul playing in AC Milan that often due to injury and they picked up other defenders for important matches instead of Jankul. Poor boy.

As for the captain, I am still puzzled why Ufa has been chosen. While he was playing for his former club, ACF Fiorentina, he was entitled to the captain but I didn’t think he had the quality as a captain for the following reasons: his careless mistakes in defence and his fluffy attitude. Čech was more qualified, IMO. Being a Chealsea goalkeeper, he overcome diffucult times that could’ve ended his football career not only with with surgical operaton but also with maintaining his tough mentality. Plus a goalkeeper is simply a great position in terms of locatiion. You can see everything and everyone from behind so that you can get ahold of what is happening and make a quick and right edicts to your squad. It’s like a daddy trying to put 10 kids altogether. And I still believe, Čech should take that role.

WHO’S YOUR PICK?

1 Petr Čech
2 Zdeněk Grygera
3 Jan Polák
4 Tomáš Galásek
5 Radoslav Kováč
6 Marek Jankulovski
7 Libor Sionko
8 Martin Fenin
9 Jan Koller
10 Václav Svěrkoš
11 Stanislav Vlček
12 Zdeněk Pospěch
13 Michal Kadlec
14 David Jarolím
15 Milan Baroš
16 Jaromír Blažek
17 Marek Matějovský
18 Tomáš Sivok
19 Rudolf Skácel
20 Jaroslav Plašil
21 Tomáš Ujfaluši
22 David Rozehnal
23 Daniel Zítka
Trainer: Karel Brückner

source: EURO2008.com