European Football Cup 2008’s Weblog

Coach Karel Brückner said on Monday that Tomáš Rosický’s injury-enforced absence from UEFA EURO 2008™ was a major factor in the Czech Republic’s first-round exit.

Sorely missed
Rosický was in the stands at the Stade de Genève to witness Brückner’s team squander a two-goal lead as they were beaten 3-2 by Turkey to miss out on a place in the quarter-finals. Though the veteran coach praised his strikers, he admitted Rosický’s invention behind them had been sorely missed. “[Jan] Koller, [Milan] Baroš and [Václav] Svěrkoš played very well when they were on the pitch, and did all that I asked of them,” said the 68-year-old. “But there were other parts of the team that were weaker, especially in terms of creativity, and we were weak on the wings. You can’t replace Rosický. We knew that before the tournament. There are only a few teams that can replace a player like that.”

Collapse
After Koller and Jaroslav Plašil had put their side within touching distance of the last eight, Brückner joined Rosický as a helpless spectator as Arda Turan reduced the deficit before Petr Čech dropped a routine ball at Nihat Kahveci’s feet to gift the Turkey captain an 87th-minute equaliser. With the Czechs in disarray, Nihat then added a third in the final minute. Brückner refused to name names, but made it clear where he felt the blame for the defeat lay. “The 2-1 goal brought them back into the match, and our defence wasn’t good enough in that situation,” said the 68-year-old coach. “In general, the defenders were too far away from the strikers and that led to the chances they had. Then there was the final mistake and the collapse and everyone saw the outcome. All that means that we’ve been knocked out of the tournament.”

‘Painful defeat’
It was a disappointing end to Brückner’s six-and-a-half year reign in charge of the senior side, and he admitted that the steely expression seen by millions around the world come the final whistle masked a maelstrom of emotions inside. “Of course, the feelings after a match like this are very different from those after a victory, but I try to hide my feelings on the pitch, as I am part of the team,” he said. “But this is football and there can’t be great victories without painful defeats, and sometimes it’s just a matter of centimetres between the two.”