Spartans only temporarily replaced Slavs in the national team, King and Vydra must play more in England, thinks Fukal

The Czech Republic failed to beat Wales and it looks like they will go into the World Cup barrage as an unseeded team. Milan Fukal wrote about the draw with Wales for Aktuálně.

Fukal doesn’t like the fact that a minimum of Czech players play in the top 5 leagues. At the October meeting it was only Tomáš Souček, Alex Kral, Patrik Schick and Matěj Vydra.

Moreover, Král and Vydra are not stable members of the starting lineup. What’s more, the haired midfielder has played one single game since the September national break and his performance against West Ham showed it.

“Even when players have commitments in a mature league, it is essential that they play regularly. Alex King is clear evidence of that. He was a regular at Spartak Moscow, but now you could clearly see his lack of play.”

In recent years, the national team has relied mainly on players from Slavia. The rival from Letná usually sent one or two players to the reunion, but this time there were three Spartans in the starting line-up. Against Belarus it was even four.

Of course, there would have been many more players in the nomination, but the Susians are troubled by numerous injuries. Only Jan Kuchta was left in the team for the match in Kazan, nine players of the wider squad were not available.

“For the first time in a long time, there were more Spartans than Slavs on the pitch. But I don’t think the national team is tipping over to their side. It just worked out that way. The mainstays of the team were missing – Holeš, Ševčík, Masopust, it’s not even worth talking about Kúdel or even Hovorka. If they were available, coach Šilhavy would certainly have used them, he is definitely counting on them.”

Although the Czech footballers agreed in interviews after the end of the match with Wales that they wanted to win, objectively it was the Welsh who deserved the three points more. And they were missing the injured Gareth Bale.

The islanders handled the breaks superbly, Daniel James making the defensive line led by Ondrej Celestka a problem thanks to his quick feet, not to mention the creative Aaron Ramsey. So whoever thought that Wales without Bale was half-assed, Friday’s contest convinced them that was not the case at all.

“Bale, the biggest star, didn’t come on for Wales. He’s a big influence on the collective, he’s footballingly different to the others. If he had played, I think the quality in finishing and in the final pass would have been much higher. Many times the Welsh went very quickly to the counter, but they didn’t pass accurately and the chance was gone.”

Source: Aktuálně