Scotland's Robertson (left) and the Czech Republic's soucek
After a quarter of a century, Scotland is returning to the European Championship stage with a groundbreaking game. In the first European Championship match since 1996, the Scots will receive the Czech Republic on Monday afternoon (3 p.m. CEST / live ORF 1) in Glasgow. With a view to the other opponents England and Vice World Champion Croatia after the opening game of Group D, only the winner can expect realistic chances of promotion.
“We are ready for a long time,” said assistant coach John Carver on Saturday before the long-awaited comeback. The last time Scotland took part in a European Championship was 25 years ago, the last major tournament so far was the 1998 World Cup in France. “We're hungry to become legends,” said Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn.
Coach Steve Clarke has led the Scots through the play-offs to the finals. The British clash with England on June 18, in which the Scots want to go with three points, is particularly longed for. That would give them the chance to get out of the group stage for the first time in their eleventh attempt (two European Championship finals so far, eight World Cup finals).
The most inexperienced team at the European Championship with 482 international matches has good memories of the Czechs. In the autumn of the previous year, the Scots won both duels in the Nations League 2-1 and 1-0.
In contrast to their opponents, the Czech Republic can throw a lot of experience into the balance. Since separating from Slovakia (1993), the country has participated in every European Championship finals. In 2004 they even made it to the semi-finals, and in 2012 to the quarter-finals. Most recently, in France in 2016, the preliminary round was over.
You won't find any real stars in the Czech squad who qualified for the finals as runners-up behind England. With Tomas Soucek you can rely on a versatile veteran in defensive midfield who did not miss a single minute at West Ham in the Premier League last season. Another well-known name is Bayer Leverkusen's striker Patrik Schick.
“It will definitely be a difficult match, but we saw enough video footage from the coaches,” said striker Michael Krmencik. “If we give one hundred percent or more, we can hurt anyone and hit them. If we can make it against the Scots, we can dream of big things.”
