CONTAINS VIDEO
It’s as if he found himself in 2016, when the Czech Republic faced the Spanish selection of stars at the Euros in a similar way. According to coach and former goalkeeper Dominik Rodinger, the Czechs were more active against Portugal this year, but he still expected more courage from the team.
What did you say about the Czech performance?
“Already after the match, I felt a certain embarrassment from coach Hašek’s interview, it was clear that he was not satisfied, so I think that it is difficult for us fans to be satisfied. We encountered high quality. Rarely can a Czech fan recognize how difficult it is when our two forwards Patrik Schick and Jan Kuchta played almost without the ball until the substitution, did not attack and concentrated on defending. We have to appreciate the strength of Portugal, but on the other hand I think we could have been more active.”
Where do you think it rubbed off?
“The setting of the players is extremely important and we don’t know the details of the tactics and what instructions they had, but what I saw on TV, at first it looked like we wanted to play a pass from goalkeeper Jindra Staňek. Depending on how the players were positioned. But when Jindra received a pass from the stopper, he preferred to evaluate it with a long kick, until Patrik Schick obviously couldn’t stand it and during treatment he ran to Jindra and Krejda (Ladislav Krejčí) and obviously wanted them to start playing from the back, because it was possible. “
But even so, the players didn’t rush into it much…
“There was a situation around the 25th minute when we finally tried it through the left side of Douděra, where the opponent left us space and we got out of it nicely with a nice combination through the middle.”
So are you saying that the Czechs should have attempted similar actions more often?
“It’s a question of how they were internally set up. Now we can only speculate about it, but there is a question of how it would look if Matěj Kovář was catching, for example. He’s the type of keeper that will bring more risk to the game, but that’s just in case you can play build up from the back. You could see in Krejčí that he was used to playing at great risk from Vindahl’s Sparta, he was waiting for the ball, but Jindra Staněk didn’t really want to get involved.”
Were long kicks putting the Czech Republic under pressure again?
“It was clearly the foundation for us to stay in the deep block because the Portuguese were winning all the headers, getting the ball and going into the mix again. We faced this again in a deeper position, but at the same time if there is an alpha omega how to face such an opponent, or rather blunt his quality on the ball, you have to face him a little more courageously on the field.
When it was possible to get the ball into the Portuguese half, the combination often ended in an unforced Czech loss… Did nervousness work?
“I saw it the same way. We had a problem getting the second third pass. We either threw them out completely or lost the ball with a dribble. But you have to realize that if you run at such a pace for two, three or four minutes without the ball, it is extremely difficult with the ball. The Portuguese repressed well, after losing the ball they immediately attacked us.”
Jindřich Staněk is being dealt with a lot. His passing has already been discussed, but what did you say about his performance as a former goalkeeper? Was the first goal conceded a big mistake?
“I wonder if they showed footage of the first conceded goal in the stadium, because there was a shot of Jindra on TV shortly afterwards, looking up and as if he realized he should have stuck the ball and not kicked it.”
photo: Profimedia
Even on a wet pitch?
“Before there, he made much more difficult tackles, during which he kept the ball. Jindra caught very well, but in the most crucial moments he didn’t quite do it.”
Robin Hranáč also scored the first goal…
“(jumps into the conversation) Hranáč is not responsible for a single goal. He gave a great performance. Two years ago he was in Liptovský Mikuláš and today he manages the defense at Euro. He made huge progress. Yes, he was unlucky with those goals, but they were other players’ mistakes. He couldn’t do anything about it. For example, with the second goal, much more experienced fighters made a mistake.”
Are you referring to Vladimir Coufal?
“I didn’t understand how the player could run past him when he had him perfectly prepared for the fight. The opponent could only go to the line and also down. Coufal shouldn’t have wanted to play the ball at all, just finish it with his body, but he took the fight, allowing the Portuguese player to get inside, where you don’t want him at all. That was the key situation before the second goal.”
IT WAS AN EASY WAITING FOR DEATH IN THE FIRST HALF, SAID STÁNK. WE HAVE SOMETHING TO WORK ON
Fans are debating this so I’ll ask you too. How much did this match resemble the opening match at Euro 2016, where the Czech Republic played against Spain and also produced a similar performance?
“There is a big similarity there. The possession quality of these teams is so high that it costs their opponents a lot of energy. And when you get to the ball, you have to keep calm and choose the right solutions, but that’s what you ask yourself when you watch the match, whether such a Patrik Schick even fits into Czech football…”
What do you mean?
“I wonder if the boy has a chance to do anything? Several times you could see that he was frustrated that the other guys didn’t choose a better solution, didn’t put the ball in a good position for him. But it can also be said the other way around – how many balls did Patrik lose, how many balls did he miss with the first touch…”
He also went down with Jan Kuchta quite early…
“In the second half, we just kicked and tried to get the second balls. You could see that there was talk of this topic in the cabin and the guys decided that they would just play more simply. But I think that for me the coaches Hašek, Veselý and Köstl are the ones who want to play football, so I wonder if it didn’t come from the players’ heads that they want to play that way. We also managed to move the block some twenty meters higher and it immediately looked different, we managed to win the ball more, but unfortunately it didn’t lead to much.”
WHAT THE MATCH WITH THE PORTUGUESE SHOWED: LOSS OF PLAYERS, NERVOUSNESS IN THE COMBINATION AND SCHICK WITH THE KITCHEN WITHOUT SERVICE
Did you expect more from the midfield players?
“I will answer the question differently. When Barák and Ševčík came, you could see with both of them that they would hold the ball, they would do something different. Especially Barák can come up with something unexpected in the last 30 meters.”
Like a chance for Ondřej Lingro?
“Everyone expected him to play in the region, but he stepped on the ball and found Lingro. This is a non-traditional solution for me, atypical for Czech players. The same Ševčík. He takes the balloon and carries it ten to twenty meters. Exactly what Tomáš Rosický used to do, but today’s players don’t do it.”
What about the move with Pavel Šulec?
“He has an incredible radius of action, he was flying around like crazy, but I think he was tied up with a lot of defensive tasks, so he didn’t get much into the offensive.”
