Czech national team coach Michal Bilek has said that he has silenced the critics, who have been extremely tough on the Czech Republic national team following their failure to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The Czech Republic national team have qualified for the Euro 2012, which will take place in Poland and Ukraine shortly. Czech Republic has a great chance of progressing to the next round after having been drawn in group where there are no favourites. The Czechs have been drawn in the group containing Poland, Russia, and Greece. Michal Bilek was given the responsibility of not only qualifying for the Euro 2012, but also building a team for the future.
He has been able to do that brilliantly, as Czech Republic qualified for the competition with a right mixture of experience and youth. The manager has said that he is hoping for a great Euro 2012 and believes that the team can use the win over Montenegro in the play-offs as a springboard to greater success in the tournament itself. Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech and Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky are clearly the most important players for the team. The best aspect in this regard for Bilek is that the aforementioned players are coming into the tournament in excellent form.
“We would like to follow up on the good end to autumn, when I think we played well,” said the national team manager following the 1-1 draw with Ireland in a recent friendly. Wolfsburg’s Petr Jiracek is a key player according to Bilek. He has also mentioned the good form shown by Vaclav Pilar of Pilsen. The national team will be playing in two more friendly matches against Hungary and Israel before the Euro 2012 kicks off. They will be hoping for a similar kind of performance as in the Euro 2004.