The Czech Republic came close to progressing out of the group with the victory. Why is it better for the Czech Republic to finish in second place?

After a great fight, the Czech Republic beat the Scots in the first duel at the championship and opened the door to the knockout fights. If they beat Croatia, they have nothing to look back on, a point could be enough to advance from third place.

England clearly have their sights set on top spot in the group. They beat Croatia 1-0 and certainly don’t look like they want to put the brakes on. But it’s not in our interest to fight for first place. Why?

The first team from our Group D will face the second team from Group F in the eighth round. Whereas the second team from our group D will face the second team from group E, which will probably be one of the trio of Slovakia, Poland, Sweden or Spain.

And that’s definitely a thousand times easier lot than the three big heavyweights from Group F. France is the reigning world champion, Portugal is defending its triumph at the European Championships. Germany may not have the strength of, say, 2014, but the Germans must never be underestimated.

If we finish third in our group, the opponent would depend on where we finish in the mini-table of third teams.

Either way, it’s a very unforgiving draw for England. Fans already see their team with a trophy, but their darlings will quite possibly have to face the best the tournament has to offer right away in the eighth round.

It’s a bit of a paradox that second place is preferable to first, but sometimes it works out that way. However, in order for Jaroslav Šilhavy’s charges to think about this position, they must not lose to Croatia. Even a draw in the case of a better overall score would play into our hands.

Source: Livesport