REALITY CZECH
Clarke says Scots are unaffected by Nations League f ixture confusion
STEVE CLARKE last night insisted the on-off saga over the Nations League tie against the Czech Republic had caused no disruption to Scotland’s preparations.
The Scotland manager stressed his players and their focus were entirely unaffected by the drama that began as news leaked late on Friday night of the Czechs calling off tomorrow’s fixture.
Following a frantic series of phone calls and exchanges between the associations and with UEFA into Saturday afternoon, the game was announced as going ahead in Olomouc.
However, the hosts declared they will field a completely different team of players and backroom staff after the squad which triumphed in Slovakia was disbanded for coronavirus safety reasons.
Viktoria Plzen, Slavia Prague and Sparta Prague joined forces to make their players unavailable for Jaroslav Silhavy’s next selection after recording a 3-1 win on Friday. Tomas Soucek and Patrik Schick
had missed the group opener after being placed in quarantine following a round of Covid-19 positives tests within the squad.
The Czechs will now be led by caretaker coach David Holoubek, with some Under-20 players set to be called in to the squad.
Amid all the late night and early morning uncertainty triggered by the shock announcement from the Czech FA, Clarke revealed that his men carried on as normal.
He said: ‘We had the same strange feeling everybody else did when the Czech association came out and said the game wasn’t going to be on. But it didn’t affect anything we did. We went to bed and woke up this morning, we had another Covid test, and then we went out to train.
‘The boys who played had a little warm down, the ones who didn’t had a good session. And on Sunday we will get back on the training pitch and prepare for the game.
‘It hasn’t affected us in any way. We told the players they had to prepare as normal. What format or what squad the Czechs are going to have, we couldn’t influence.’
Both UEFA and the Scottish FA were caught out by the Czech FA’s initial announcement. SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell liaised with UEFA’s deputy general secretary, Giorgio Marchetti, and director of national associations Zoran Lakovic in the search for answers.
Maxwell said: ‘We were as surprised as UEFA to learn of the statement posted on the official Czech channels. Following extensive late-night conversations, in the morning we received categorical assurance that the match goes ahead.’
A Czech FA spokesman said last night: ‘The A team this will not be, but we will face Scotland on Monday after a debate with UEFA. We are now in close communication with the clubs and are deciding who will play for the Czech national team.’
With Scotland in the Euro 2020 play-offs next month there were no dates available to reschedule, leaving the Czechs facing the prospect of forfeiting the match.
Maxwell and president Rod Petrie will not travel with the team due to fly out this afternoon. They were due to be joined by non-executive director Malcolm Kpedekpo but felt protecting the team bubble as much as possible, particularly on flights, was an important measure to take.