European Qualifiers: Group A leaders Iceland ready for Czech Republic test

Group A leaders Iceland travel to second-placed Czech Republic looking to establish themselves as favourites to progress to the finals in France.

But, for Czech Republic coach Pavel Vrba, the game will have an added special significance as the fixture takes place at the home of Viktoria Plzen - the team he guided to title success before landing the national job.

"Of course, I'm very much looking forward to coming back," he said about his return to Plzen.

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"I spent five marvellous years there. I hope the atmosphere will be similarly positive and the fans will support us in the same way.

"It's quite unusual to open the last training session, but international games are not held in Plzen that often so we wanted to do our supporters a favour."

Two of Holland's biggest stars have come out in defence of coach Guus Hiddink as they prepare for a vital European Championship qualifier against Latvia.

Hiddink replaced Louis van Gaal in Holland's top job after the now-Manchester United manager guided Oranje to third place at the World Cup but has already threatened to resign after a poor run of results.

Holland have won just one of their Group A qualifying fixtures so far, losing to both Czech Republic and Iceland and only able to beat lowly Kazakhstan.

The former Real Madrid boss has suggested he may walk away from Holland if they fail to get their Euro 2016 qualification back on track with a win over 99th-ranked Latvia - but Robin van Persie believes his statement shows the coach has belief in his players.

"He is playing a poker game with his announcement that he is leaving with a defeat," the Manchester United striker said.

"We do not want to lose him. You can view his remark differently, however. You could say it is because he has a lot of confidence in us. We have to win that game - we owe it to Hiddink."

Arjen Robben has also been vocal in defending Hiddink and has called on the country to worry about what happens on the pitch in Amsterdam on Sunday rather than about the future of the coach.

"I'm done with it," he replied when asked about Hiddink's potential departure.

"The Dutch team is for everyone. Everyone has an opinion about it. There have also been times when everyone fell back on Van Gaal."

If Latvia can spring a surprise and win at the Amsterdam Arena, they would move above Holland in the group and to within striking distance of the top two.

The final match in Group A sees Kazakhstan travel to Istanbul to take on Turkey - who sit bottom of the group with both sides having collected just one point so far.