I am happy about the progress, but I need rest and distance, says coach Suchopárek. What did he say about the barrage duel with Iceland?

The Czech national U21 football team has won the barrage double-match with Iceland and after the results 2: 1 and 0: 0 they can enjoy the promotion to the European Championship! How did coach Jan Suchopárek evaluate the performance of his players?

After the victorious match on the soil of Iceland, in which the Czech national team won 2:1, the Czech Republic entered the home rematch as a favourite, and compared to the first match, coach Suchopárek made two changes in the line-up.

Kryštof Daněk and Daniel Fila dropped out of the starting eleven, while Matyáš Kozák and Michal Ševčík, who missed the first match due to health reasons, started the match.

This change did not lead to any goals scored, but the Czechs won the European Championship with a 0:0 draw and both players were visible on the pitch. Although the half-time scoreless result corresponded to the course of the first half and in the second half the visitors created more chances.

For the coach of the national team, this is another promotion to the European tournament. Three years ago, he did in fact qualify for the European Championship with the U19 team, and now he is also progressing with the U21 team.

Statement of the national team’s U21 coach

“The team worked very well, but this time at the decisive moment some players did not perform optimally. I think there were a lot of negative emotions on the pitch that affected our performance. On the other hand, it is necessary to highlight the quality of the opponent, which was excellent and only thanks to Matěj Kovář in goal we defended the result,” said coach Suchopárek at the press conference.

“We had some situations from which we could have scored, but we didn’t create any chances. We just had shots from mid-range or centres that went through the whitewash or past the goal. The opponent, on the other hand, had chances and could have scored,” he added.

The Czech national team’s driver also answered the question about the nature of the match. According to him, the national team often repeated this and that last step tied their legs.

“It was very difficult for us to keep the organisation of the game and most of the players were afraid to take the ball and do something. It was caused by emotions, which are part of top football, but if we want to move forward we have to work on our psyche because it is obvious that we are afraid of winning. We need to work on that,” he explained.

According to coach Suchopárek, the Czech team did not hold the reins of the match firmly in their hands. A big thanks goes to goalkeeper Matej Kovář, who worked very well during the qualification and also acted as a solid point of the whole line-up. It should be noted that Kovář saved the Czech team several times with his saves.

Coach Suchopárek is happy about the progress, but…

“I need to take a rest and a little distance. I am happy about it, of course, because we also advanced to the European Nineteen Nations Championship three years ago. But there is only one goalkeeper in the team. But I think that all the changes have paid off and thanks to them we have reached a successful end,” concluded the coach of the Czech national team.

The final tournament in 2023 will be co-hosted by Romania and Georgia. The groups for the final tournament will be decided by lot in Bucharest on 18 October.

Sources