What did the cubs show? The strongest team in a long time, quality on the edges of the defence and in the middle of the midfield

The Czech national U21 football team qualified for the European Championships on Tuesday. After a 2-1 win over Iceland, a goalless draw at home was enough. What did the match show for the future?

The strongest selection in a long time

The Czechs also qualified for the championship two years ago, but the group showed that they were well behind the European top team. Players who did not play in the starting line-up at their clubs had to play. This year is different.

The strength of the team is already evident from the nomination, the stars of this year’s Fortuna Liga, David Jurásek and Michal Ševčík, plus the injured Tomas Čvančara was missing. And let’s not forget that Jan Suchopárek’s roster did not include the stalwart Pavel Šulc. This also indicates quality.

Mature players

The European Youth Championship is usually about the quality of defence. Runners and trackers in youth often make mistakes, are inconsistent, often don’t play at all. At the last Euro, Denis Granečný had to play and he had no workload at that time.

Now the regions belong to Adam Gabriel and David Jurásek. The former left Sparta for Hradec Králové in the summer, where he is doing well, the latter is one of the best assistants in the Fortuna Liga and is a regular in Slavia. TOP quality for a 21-year-old.

Quality and numerous midfield

The centre of the midfield is also of high quality. The captain Filip Kaloc came into the match from the bench. The pair Lukáš Červ, Matěj Valenta play together in Liberec and seem to be very progressive. Červ is a fighter, Valenta gives the game an idea. And Jan Žambůrek has experience from the islands.

In addition, Marek Icha shows potential, Filip Soucek is also a variant. There is a lot to choose from, which was not the case in the past years. If Kaloc can recover from his injury, the competition will be really tough. And that will come in handy in tough games.

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