The Czech national team lost the two best forwards just before today’s meeting in Prague before the matches in Cyprus, Israel and Scotland. Patrik Schick and Michael Krmenčík dropped out of the nomination due to injuries. For health reasons, goalkeeper Ondřej Kolář will also be missing and another goalkeeper Jiří Pavlenka will be missing due to the threat of quarantine after returning to Bremen. Coach Jaroslav Šilhavý additionally called forward Zdeněk Ondrášek and goalkeeper Tomáš Koubek with Filip Nguyen.
Schick scored his first Bundesliga goal in a Leverkusen jersey on Saturday, but shortly thereafter he had to take turns and rehabilitated him during a national break with a slightly torn hind thigh muscle. Šilhavý also lost Krmenčík, who got into shooting form in the last matches. The Brugg jersey was already missing in Sunday’s match against Anderlecht Brussels.
Ondrášek, who was missing during the September meeting after a long coronavirus pause, took a vacant place in the attack. The 31-year-old player still has four last year’s starts in the national team and during his debut a year ago in October as a substitute he secured an unexpected home win of 2: 1 over England in the European qualification. Šilhavý originally planned to give Ondrášek time to acclimatize after his recent arrival in Pilsen from Dallas, but in the end he had already used it.
There were also changes in the goalkeeper position. Pavlenka would have to quarantine after returning from Israel, where the epidemiological situation is unfavorable in connection with the coronavirus pandemic.
“Each region in Germany has slightly different rules and for other players from Germany a negative test result will suffice. We waited until the last minute if the situation did not change, but in this situation we did not want to make any complications for Jirka in the club,” stated on the FACR website the national team manager Libor Sionko. “In any case, his connection to the team in Scotland remains at stake, should the situation around the goalkeepers so require for any reason,” added.
During the morning, another goalkeeper, Kolář, dropped out of the nomination. The Slavic number one suffered a minor injury in Sunday’s league duel in Ostrava, which was confirmed by today’s examination.
Pavlenka was replaced by Koubek, who was not in the national team for over a year. The goalie of the German Augsburg has nine starts in the national team, but he has not yet caught for Šilhavý. He last joined two years ago in the 1: 5 debacle in preparation in Russia, after which the previous coach Karel Jarolim finished. Instead of Kolář, Šilhavý called Nguyen, who earned an invitation for the second time, but has not yet started. He was nominated for the first time in a hastily made selection for the match with Scotland in September, after the original team had to be isolated after a previous match in Slovakia due to coronavirus.
The national team met today in Prague and will fly to Cyprus on Tuesday, where it will have a preparatory match on Wednesday. On Sunday, the national team will play in the League of Nations in Israel and three days later in Scotland. There are 25 players in the current selection.
The meeting did not start at noon, as usual, but in the morning. The whole team must undergo the first wave of tests for coronavirus. Until the results of the samples, all players and other members of the national team will be individually isolated in the hotel rooms, in the early evening the team will train for the first time.
The FACR management tightened the regime and hygienic measures even more after September, due to two positive tests for coronavirus in members of the implementation team, the team had to isolate after winning 3: 1 in Slovakia. The ensuing match with Scotland (1: 2) played a hastily made new selection.
