Republic of Ireland V Czech Republic - Wednesday, 29th February 2012 - Friendly

**DannyInvincible** · 28/02/2012, 2:24 PM

trap: "in the second half, may use some young, maybe duffy and mcclean, they can understand better what usually we do in pitch."

Also talk of Trap playing Robbie in a Totti role:

why shane long? trap: "i wish give robbie opportunity to play between midfield... robbie can read the game... can feel which game will be."

trap: "two years ago, i say to you, robbie can play like totti. you remember this? is important, remember? no? excuse me what was question?"

**tetsujin1979** · 28/02/2012, 3:58 PM

tangentally related - Bilic views Croatia's friendly with Sweden as a good rehersal for the opening game in the Euros: http://fourfourtwo.com/news/restofeu...3/default.aspx

**DannyInvincible** · 28/02/2012, 6:39 PM

Interviews with Shane Duffy, Darren O'Dea and Aiden McGeady from RT�: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/mns/2.../jkivs_av.html

**Hibs4Ever** · 28/02/2012, 6:50 PM

Czech XI

Čech - Gebre Selassie, Sivok, Kadlec, Limbersk� - Plašil, Jir�ček - Petržela, Štajner, Rezek - Baroš

**boysingreen** · 28/02/2012, 7:25 PM

So RTE isn't showing the match, only Sky?

I suppose that means only way to catch online then is a live stream?

The luxury of RTE player on demand for those of us in different timezones is amazing, but guess not this time.

**Serb** · 28/02/2012, 7:55 PM

I don't know why, but I did a little bit of research on the Czech team. Here's a brief summary of what to expect from the starting XI:

Čech: We already know a lot about him and what he can do. He's best mates with Stephen Hunt.
Gebre Selassie: A right-back who was capped for the first time last year. Is notable only because he's the first black player to ever play for the Czechs. Plays his club football at home for the team currently place second in the league (Slovan Liberec). Has 3 goals this season, so might be a bit of a threat at set pieces although he's not particularly tall at 6ft.
Sivok: Centre back who has been a regular for the national team this season, playing club football for Besiktas in Turkey. He also has a reasonable scoring record for a defender with 4 goals in 20 so far this season.
Limbersk�: Left back, playing for Viktoria Plzen who are third in the Czech league. He was signed on loan by Martin Jol when he was managed of Tottenham but he never played a game. He's regarded as a bit of a free-kick expert.
Kadlek: Also a left back (but seems like he might slot in a centre back tomorrow), regular for Leverkusen. Scored 6 international goals in 2011, but from the looks of things, he has been taking penalties for the Czechs.
Plašil: Plays for Bordeaux (who are languishing in mid-table in France), on the left wing, though it seems more likely that he'll play in the centre tomorrow. Doesn't seem to score many goals. It'll be his 65th cap tomorrow. Scored at least one nice goal when he was playing for Osasuna.
Jir�ček: Was picked up by Wolfsburg in the January transfer. He's a left-sided midfielder. Only made his national team debut 5 months ago, but scored the winner in the Czechs play-off second leg.
Petržela: Another Plzen player. He's a right-sided midfielder, only has a few caps for the Czechs and has never scored for them.
Štajner: The oldest member of the squad at 35, he's a striker playing for Slovan Liberec. Has a good strike rate a club level, but has only managed 4 in 36 for the Czechs. I'd imagine the vast majority of his caps came as a sub however as he would have been competing with Baros and Jan Koller.
Rezek: Plays for Famagusta in Cyprus. Not a lot of information about him really, but his club list him as a striker / left midfielder. He won a penalty against Scotland in Euro 2012 qualifying, but he came in from the right wing for that. Will probably slot into the midfield somewhere tomorrow.
Baroš: The only other player people are likely to know anything about. Currently plays for Galatasaray. He's inconsistent, but he is far and away the best striker they have at the moment, although he has only scored one goal (against Liechtenstein) in the past 2 years for them. He scored against us the last time we played in Dublin.

Overall, not a very daunting team to face I don't think. I won't pretend I know much about any of the players, but depending on how they line up, there could be a fair few players out of position tomorrow. Also, quite a few of them don't seem to be regular first teamers (Selassie, Limbersk�, Jir�ček, Petržela & Rezek are all on 11 caps or less) , so I would be expecting a win.

**rebelmusic** · 28/02/2012, 8:07 PM

He really needs to give McCarthy at least 45 minutes this time around. He's the only out and out midfielder besides Green who i pray to the flying spagetthi monster isn't put in front of McCarthy, imo, he's a bad version of Whelan/Andrews

**Yard of Pace** · 28/02/2012, 8:27 PM

Slightly off topic but does anyone know where I could find info on the game that a LOI IX played against Czechoslovakia in the early 90s? It would've been one of their last ever games before breaking up.

**Stuttgart88** · 28/02/2012, 8:57 PM

Originally Posted by Serb

Gebre Selassie:

He puts in the miles.

**AlaskaFox** · 28/02/2012, 9:10 PM

I'd pick out Plasil and Kadlec as their best players apart from Cech and Baros. Their entire defence is pretty decent actually.

**DannyInvincible** · 28/02/2012, 9:16 PM

Kadlec is a goals beast in Football Manager. That's all I know of him really.

**Closed Account** · 29/02/2012, 5:31 PM

I predict a 1-1 draw.

Robbies withdrawn role will see us fail to get enough men in the box. McGeady will frustrate and give away the ball in promising positions too much. The defence will do well as a whole but 1 mistake from Ward or O'Shea will see the Czechs score.

Hopefully our goal will come from a midfielder, as we need to offer more of a threat from there. The game will peter out when subs disrupt the flow of the game around the 70-75 minute mark.

Optimism.......