Hubnik comes out of retirement hoping to stun Scotland - again
Roman Hubnik has come out of retirement to answer the call of the Czech Republic and hopes to helps ink Scotland again.
The 36- year-old defender scored the only goal of the game in the 1-0 European Championship qualifying win over the Scots in 2010, one of only three goals in 29 caps before he retired from international football after the 2016 Euros.
Hub nikw as na medina whole new Czech squad for the Nations League match against Scotland in Olomouc this evening after the original group of players and management were stepped down amid corona virus concerns.
The Sigma Olomouc defender–one of only two players, along with Slavia Prague striker St a ni slav Tecl, in stand-in boss David Holoubek’s squad with caps to their name – spoke at the pre-match media conference last night and, through a translator, recalled the vital header from a decade ago.
“Of course I remember this game,” he said. “We won 1-0, I scored a goal so it was a very important moment for me because we qualified for the European Championships back then.
“I didn’t score many goals in my career so I would definitely say this was the most important one.
“It wouldn’t be bad to repeat the 1-0 win again [tonight].
“I didn’t expect to be called up but it was very pleasant surprise. I didn’ t hesitate at all. I am not the young - est player but I accepted the offer and I am very happy to be here.
“This is my home and I would love to help the team. I believe there is a good game with a good result ahead of us.”
Following Friday night’ s 3-1 Nations League away win over Slovakia, the Czech football association declared the game against Scotland had been called off.
This followed Tom as Soucek and Patrik Schick being told to self-isolate following contact with a backroom staff member who tested positive for Covid-19, but Uefa insisted on Saturday that the match will go ahead.
Former Sparta Prague boss Holoubek, pictured above, who has taken there ins from national team manager Jaro slav Silhavy, spoke about “a very extraordinary situation”.
He said: “We had approximately five hours to create a new squad, so it was a very dynamic, hectic time.
“I would like to thank all clubs for allowing us to nominate the players and I would like to also thank all the players because they were on their free time and they had to come here to Olomouc from all over the country, and the feedback was generally very, very positive.”