Kolář, Pavlenka or Staněk. Who will be the number one of the national team if Vaclik is injured?

Since Petr Čech put down the gloves, Tomáš Vaclík has become the Czech national team’s number one. But the 33-year-old goalkeeper is now struggling with an injury and before the start of the European Championship qualifiers, the question arises – who should replace him?

Although he often faces criticism, Vaclik has kept his place in the starting line-up. He returned the favour to coach Jaroslav Šilhavy, especially at last year’s EURO, where he gave a great performance.

But the fresh Huddersfield reinforcement had to make a substitution in the 60th minute against Wigan due to a sore groin. It was originally thought to be a significant tissue damage and a break of over a month. It wasn’t so hot after all, Vaclik already started against Stoke on Wednesday.

But Šilhavy and co. still have to be careful. On 24 March the Czech national team will face Poland in Eden, after which they will travel to Chisinau to play Moldova. But it is the goalkeeper position that the Czech Republic has the most to fill and there is certainly no need to panic.

Ondřej Kolář – 28 years old, Slavia

He is in the best shape of all Czech goalkeepers at the moment. After a slight decline, Kolář has returned to his former form, which he showed in the autumn and confirmed even more at the start of the spring. In three matches he scored only once, in all the duels, especially against Brno, he made excellent saves and kept Slavia in the game.

He is again very confident in the midfield and the ridiculed Kolář is gone. However, the 28-year-old goalkeeper may be hurt by the affair before the EURO, where he refused to go to finish his injury, as he would not have been number one anyway.

Jiri Pavlenka – 30 years old, Bremen

Long-time Bundesliga stalwart of Bremen. Pavlenka is in his fifth season in Germany’s top competition, having also played one year in the second Bundesliga. He fought with Vaclik for the number one spot in the beginning, and many fans have been calling for his name in goal for a long time.

Pavlenka is a bet on experience and reliability, he is not among the best Bundesliga goalkeepers by chance.

Jindřich Staněk – 26 years old, Plzeň

The best goalkeeper in the Czech league last season, Stanek literally pushed Plzeň to the title and the Champions League. He also made a decent showing for the national team, for example in the qualifying match against Belgium.

Moreover, Šilhavý trusts him and gave him two chances in the Nations League matches. His form has dropped a bit, but he still has a great chance to score.

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