Holoubek: Ragtag side will battle like lions to shock Scots
DAVID HOLOUBEK has warned Steve Clarke’s side that his untried men and boys will fight like lions to secure an historic win.
The Czechs Under-18s boss will take charge of the senior side tonight after they were forced to ditch the entire en squad that beat Slovakia Slo on Friday night after aft their Covid-19 on-off drama dra over the weekend.
Manager M Jaroslav Silhavy has to stand down for the clash, cla shoehorning Holoubek into int the role, working with a squads based on a mix of players pla from their league who wh weren’t in the original squad, squ sprinkled with Under-20s Un team kids.
And A he’s also handed a recall rec to 36-year veteran Roman Ro Hubnik, who has previous pre against Scotland - netting net the only goal in Craig Levein’s Lev infamous 4- 6- 0 defeat def in Prague 10 years ago. Holoubek H admitted the situation si was unfortunate but b said: “It’s far from an i ideal position for us, but I will say this, whoever plays p for us has committed to his country in remarkable circumstances. ci Even if we have to play a team of teenagers, tee it’s still the same, they the will give everything for Czech Cze Republic.
“I guarantee they will give extra ext because they’ve been given giv a chance to pull on a Czech Cze shirt and go and fight like the lion on our jersey.
“They will play for all the Czech Cze fans who love football. I bowbo to their commitment.
“We have been swamped with wit matters that have nothing not to do with football really, rea so hats off to the players pla who are here.
“None of us have ever experienced anything like this. Football has suffered because of this terrible pandemic, as has society. It’s very sad.
“What makes it worse is that we were so good on Friday. I haven’t seen the team play like that for a long time.”
Czech FA president
Martin Malik has explained to SFA chief Ian Maxwell why they originally wanted to call their game against Scotland off.
The SFA and UEFA were stunned to discover the Czechs planned to postpone tonight’s Nations League clash in Olomouc after a further Covid-19 case in their camp.
And Maxwell was critical of the Czechs’ decision to announce it on social media without telling their Scottish counterparts or UEFA first.
But Malik has explained they genuinely believed they could not play the match and revealed the amount of work that’s gone into getting the game to go ahead with a different squad and coaches.
He said: “I admit that on Friday night I couldn’t see any way the game against Scotland could be played and that’s why we released the statement.
“Once UEFA started to become involved, we worked together to come up with solutions to many problems. It also became clear Monday was the only available date.
“If the game didn’t take place, we would obviously have forfeited the match and probably suffered economic sanctions too.
“The entire squad and staff from Friday are in quarantine and we had to work fast to get new players and coaches. “I understand the players from the original squad are angry. It’s a great pity we can’t use these players against Scotland but we just have to get on with it.”