Czech national team nomination: Mandous in goal, Bořil in defence, Novák returns. Schick is also available

The Czech national football team will play Wales and Belarus in the World Cup qualifiers in Qatar in October. Coach Jaroslav Šilhavy nominated several players who were absent in September.

In goal, coach Šilhavý nominated Ales Mandous, Jindřich Stanek and Tomáš Vaclík. Vaclik is certainly the number one, but Staněk showed his good qualities at the last meeting, while Mandous has been playing in Slavia.

Jan Bořil and Ondřej Čelůstka, who were absent due to injuries in September, are also back in the lineup. Jakub Brabec and David Zima were also absent due to transfer obligations and are back in the lineup. Left back Filip Novák returns to the national team after a long time.

There were no surprises in the midfield. Šilhavý will be able to choose from the following players in the qualification: Antonín Barák, Adam Hložek, Tomáš Holeš, Alex Král, Lukáš Masopust, Jakub Pešek, Michal Sadílek, Tomáš Souček, Petr Ševčík.

Šilhavý must be relieved that goal scorer Patrik Schick is available again after the expiration of the penalty. It was his shooting (un)productivity that troubled the national team at the last meeting. Matěj Vydra will be available as a second striker.

“In September it was such a calamity. We couldn’t count on more than 20 players due to health and other reasons. Now the situation is more favourable, although there are still quite a few players out,” said Jaroslav Šilhavý at the press conference, mentioning the absence of Jakub Jankt, a midfielder for Getafe.

The Czech national team will play Wales on Friday 8 October in Eden. The duel against Belarus will take place on Monday 11 October at the neutral stadium in Kazan.

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