NORTHERN IRELAND NAME SQUAD FOR CZECH GAME

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Northern Ireland has named the squad that would be paraded when they take on Czech Republic in the World Cup qualifier.


Coach Martin O’Neill named players he deemed fit to ensure they get past Czech Republic. O’Neill left out Wigan Athletic striker Will Grigg despite hitting four goals this campaign already. O’Neill chose Liam Boyce as his replacement, citing “personal reasons” as the rationale at a press conference. He opened up that the player would be missing as his partner was expecting a baby, and he didn’t want to miss it.

“He [Liam] was very unlucky to miss out of France. It was a toss of a coin between him and Will Grigg. He got a bad wrist injury and played poorly in the League Cup final even though County won the final, so his season fizzled out a bit after a strong first half, whereas Will Grigg finished strongly,” O’Neill explained.

O’Neill left out Linfield goal tender Roy Carroll, but named Tom Flanagan who has featured just once for Northern Ireland at Under 21 level. Flanagan was born in Hammersmith and he started his career at ML Dons. He was released in 2015 from his contract, but the central defender joined Burton Albion. Burton are playing in the English Championship for the first time, and Flanagan has been a regular. Continue reading “NORTHERN IRELAND NAME SQUAD FOR CZECH GAME”

CZECH REPUBLIC COACH LEAVES FOR RUSSIA

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Czech Republic coach Pavel Vrba has left the national team job to pick up a post in Russia, the Football Association confirms.

The coach failed to guide the team out of Group D at the ongoing Euro 2016 in France. He has now left to continue his coaching career in another role at Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia.


The 52-year old tactician led the team where they could only garner a point from the 2-2 draw against Croatia. The team lost to defending champions Spain and they then were defeated by Turkey in a shocking encounter. The finished bottom at the group, meaning their campaign ended instantly.

Vrba was the one who guided Viktoria Plzen to two league titles and a Czech Cup victory; he agreed to lead the national team in November 2013. He started the job in the first month in 2014, as the team had already failed to qualify got the World Cup which was hosted in Brazil. Since taking over, he has recorded some decent strides. One of which is leading the team to the top spot in Group A of the qualifying round for the European Championship. Czech qualified above Turkey, eventual quarter finalist Iceland and Netherlands, who later missed out at the tournament.
Continue reading “CZECH REPUBLIC COACH LEAVES FOR RUSSIA”

Czech Republic Faces Turkey In Last Euro 2016 Game

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Czech Republic definitely gave the Turkish side much to prepare and think about when they were facing the upcoming match against turkey in euro 2016.

Indeed, Turkey had a difficult time and having to face Czech Republic was not without concerns for the team. There had been two losses that the side faced as well as had performances that were disjointed for the team. These were in the group games of euro 2016. Turkey was then facing the challenge of staying or going out from the knockout rounds of euro 2016. Indeed, the Turkish players were all pumped up for the game against the Czech Republic as the game was a match that they had to win or they faced elimination.

The team of the Czech Republic also geared up for the game that was crucial for them as well. The captain, however, had to miss out the match as he experienced a hamstring injury. This happened in the draw match that they played against Croatia. Continue reading “Czech Republic Faces Turkey In Last Euro 2016 Game”

CZECH REPUBLIC PLAYER RECEIVES GOAL OF THE SEASON AWARD AMIDST LOUD CHEER

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Czech Republic ace, Jiri Skalak, had plenty to smile about as he received his goal of the season award amidst cheers.

The audience urged the Czech rep ace to smile as he received one of the most prestigious individual awards in the Albion calendar. He didn’t disappoint as he was seen grinning and beaming with smiles.


The Czech international had just won the club’s goal of the season competition so there was a real reason to celebrate as he hoped to make an impact in English football – and boosts his Euro 2016 chances.

Albion re-opened their goal of the season poll and extended the voting deadline to cater for Skalak’s screamer against English side, Queen Park Rangers and an Anthony Knockaert free-kick earlier in the same game. It was no surprise to see those two strikes – against a goalkeeper, in Alex Smithies, who had previously kept two clean sheets at the Amex – finish No. 2 and No. 1.

The mid-season signing from Mlada Boleslav is convinced there is more to come from him and when asked if he was playing his best football, the talented player replied:

“I hope not.” Continue reading “CZECH REPUBLIC PLAYER RECEIVES GOAL OF THE SEASON AWARD AMIDST LOUD CHEER”

The Czech Republic earns draw against strong Sweden opposition

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The Czech Republic manage to hold Sweden to a 1-1 draw despite the presence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the pitch. The match was held in Stockholm and in front of a passionate crowd, Sweden was determined to win the game.

They started well the game by putting the Czech Republic under intense pressure. It was normal that they took the lead in the 14th minutes thanks to a Marcus Berg goal. The Swedish player benefited from a superb cross from Martin Olsson. He connected well with the ball and buried it in the bottom corner to give his side the lead.

However, Czech Republic did not give up and continued to create some occasions. They will be rewarded on a set-piece. MatejVydra will rise higher than everyone else to meet Thomas Sivok’s ball with a magnificent header allowing the Czech Republic to come back in the game.

Despite the continuous pressure of Sweden, the Czech Republic will get a chance to take the lead following a great pass by LadislavKrejci, who found Vladimir Darida. However, the Czech player will shoot inches wide of the target spurning a chance to give his team the lead. Continue reading “The Czech Republic earns draw against strong Sweden opposition”

PavelVrba wants to focus against Croatia and Turkey

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It’s hard to deny the fact that Czech Republic has the hardest opponents to face in their opening match of the 2016 European Championship as they have to face off with the current champions Spain on June 13 of the ongoing year.

PavelVrba is the coach of the Czech Republic national team and he is aware that trying to claim a victory against Spain is extremely difficult and this is why he wants his team to instead focus on their upcoming matches against Croatia and Turkey, all of these games are scheduled to take place on June 17 and 21 respectively.

The 52 year old Czech manager of Czech Republic, PavelVrba talked during a press conference and said: ‘’We definitely have a very difficult group. Spain are one of the favourites to win the tournament. Us, Turkey and the Croatians will probably be fighting for the other qualifying spot. Maybe we have a slight advantage, because we start against Spain – the decisive matches against Turkey and Croatia will come later’’

‘’We know the Turkish team very well because we faced them in qualifying, so that can be an advantage for us. Facing Spain in the first match will be very difficult, of course, but the matches against Croatia and Turkey will be the crucial ones’’ Continue reading “PavelVrba wants to focus against Croatia and Turkey”

Arsenal’s back-to-back titles appeared to give them a lot of confidence

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Arsenal’s back-to-back titles appeared to give them a lot of confidence about challenging for the Premier League campaign in the 2015-16 season.

Arsene Wenger has made just one signing – Petr Cech from Chelsea – in the summer, but that appeared to be more than sufficient to strengthen the squad in all the right areas. Cech played a huge role in the team’s 1-0 win against Chelsea at the new Wembley. However, the 33-year-old goalkeeper was the culprit after the gunners fell to a 2-0 shock defeat against West Ham on Sunday.

The North London outfit were overwhelming favourites to get three points from this opening game especially since the team was on a high. SlavenBilic recently took over from Sam Allardyce and he has now managed to make the best possible start. A win would have helped Arsenal off to a great start and will also have provided them with sufficient confidence to take on the top teams like Liverpool and Chelsea in the next few weeks. As it is, Wenger’s team will have to go back to the drawing board. Continue reading “Arsenal’s back-to-back titles appeared to give them a lot of confidence”

Tomas Rosicky is probably playing his last few matches

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Czech Republic captain Tomas Rosicky is probably playing his last few matches for the national team.

The Arsenal midfielder is approaching the end of his career, but he has been a force to reckon with in the national team. Rosicky is one of the few quality players in this Czech Republic team, who have been able to take the national team to the next level along with the likes of Petr Cech. The midfielder is set to make his 100th appearance for Czech Republic in the Euro 2016 qualifying match against Iceland. He is planning to mark this occasion with a famous victory.

However, Rosicky was also quick to point out that he is not having any personal ambitions ahead of this game. Czech Republic have been surprise leaders in the group A, but they could be overthrown by Iceland with a defeat. Even a draw will be sufficient for Czech Republic, but it is unlikely that manager PavelVrba will be going in with such an ambition. The continuous struggle for Netherlands – under Guus Hiddink – is proving to be a boon for both Iceland and Czech Republic. If the group finishes as it is, both these unlikely candidates will be qualifying for the Euro 2016 automatically. Continue reading “Tomas Rosicky is probably playing his last few matches”