A great chance for the Czech Republic! Located in a significantly weaker part of the spider

The Czech Republic received a lot of criticism and abuse after losing to England. Not so much for the lacklustre performance, but rather for losing second place and dropping to third behind the Croatians. However, having played all the group matches, this does not seem to be a disadvantage.

Why? Croatia will play Spain in the eighth round. The latter is seemingly undefeated and weak by their standards, but on the other hand they outplayed their opponents in all three matches and set themselves up for the play-offs with a big 5:0 win.

The Czech Republic will face the unpredictable but definitely beatable Netherlands, who have not lost a point in the group and have kept a clean sheet twice. The Croatians have a similarly tough opponent in the eighth round, but the situation is different in the other rounds.

The Croatians will face the winner of France vs. Switzerland if they advance. Hand on heart, France is one of the three biggest favourites. And that’s not all, Italy, Belgium and Portugal are also on the same side of the draw.

It would be Šilhavy’s charges who would face the winner of the Wales vs. Denmark double-header after advancing past the Dutch. Both of these teams are putting in good performances, but they are definitely not among the strongest the tournament has to offer.

I’m really speculating a lot now, but even the semi-finals could be playable. It will feature one of the foursome of Ukraine, Sweden, England, Germany. Two mediocre selections and two big brands, but so far at the Euro they remain below expectations in terms of performance.

Bottom line, advancing to the top 16 from third place in the group was quite possibly more advantageous than advancing from second. Šilhavy’s charges will avoid Belgium, Italy, France, Portugal or Spain in the play-offs.

On Sunday, the Czech Republic will probably face the match of the decade, as the odds of a big success will be high if they reach the quarter-finals. We can only keep our fingers crossed.

Source: Euro 2020