Czechs ready for final battle

Confidence is high among Bruckner's squad

By Vasek Kadlec   Last updated: 12th June 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Czechs ready for final battle

Czech Republic: Still dreaming

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Czech Republic remain confident that they can progress to the quarter-finals of Euro 2008.

Karel Bruckner's side were beaten 3-1 by a Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired Portugal on Wednesday, but remain in contention to reach the last eight thanks to a 1-0 victory over Switzerland in their opening game.

The Czechs are now set for a Group A qualification decider with Turkey on Sunday, with the winners progressing and the losers going home.

In an interesting twist, should the game end in a draw then second-place will be decided on penalties.

Bruckner admits that his side must raise their game for the crunch encounter, accepting that Portugal gave his squad a masterclass in attacking football.

"Our attacking play has improved a lot, we had a lot of chances, mainly in the first half," the Czech coach told CTK.

"In the second half the quality of the opposition came to light, as well as out tiredness as we could not press for the whole game.

"I must congratulate our opponents, but we are ready to fight for qualification in our last group game against Turkey."

Convinced

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech is fully behind his boss and feels that the Czechs will have enough to get past Turkey.

"Our performances have been getting increasingly better and if that is the case against Turkey then I have no doubts that we will go through," he said.

Libor Sionko, who scored his country's consolation against Portugal, is also in confident mood.

"If I did not believe that we could do it, then I should not be here. I am 100 per cent convinced that we will progress."

Finally, national skipper Tomas Ujfalusi admits that no-one in the squad is thinking about heading home just yet

"We absolutely refuse to admit the possibility of going home after the group stages," said the centre-half.

"We have done well in many important games, and the Portugal match will give us self-confidence despite the loss."