When they face off on Friday in Prague, the Czech Republic and Poland will begin their Euro 2024 qualification campaigns.
Team Form
Czech Republic
Since gaining independence, they’ve made it to every European Championship final, which is impressive.
However, recent performance has not been as consistent as they would like. The team has lost five of their last six matches, resulting in their relegation from the UEFA Nations League in 2022.
Despite this, they’ve only been defeated once in their last thirteen home games, so it’s clear that they perform well on their turf.
Their last attempt at qualifying for the World Cup was unsuccessful, but they made it to the quarter-finals at Euro 2020. Their performance included a memorable last-16 victory over the Netherlands and Patrik Schick’s goal.
Czech Republic Form (All Competitions): L L L W L
Poland
The Polish national football team has a new manager, Santos, who has taken over from Czeslaw Michniewicz. Michniewicz stepped down after Poland’s World Cup exit in December, which was not unexpected as they lost in the last 16 to France.
Despite making it to the knockout stage for the first time since 1986, there was a lot of criticism aimed at the manager and the team.
There were concerns about the team’s performance and ability to entertain the fans. Poland only scored two goals in their group-stage matches, both against Saudi Arabia and scraped through on goal difference with four points.
However, Poland has been in good form lately when it comes to away matches. They’ve lost only one of their last seven games away from home, which included a win in Wales and a draw against the Netherlands. Unfortunately, that one defeat was a heavy 6-1 loss against Belgium.
Polland Form (All Competitions): W D W L L
Czech Republic expected starting lineup:
Pavlenka; Coufal, Holes, Brabec, Jemelka; Soucek, Kral, Barak; Cerny, Schick, Hlozek
Poland’s expected starting lineup:
Szczesny; Cash, Kiwior, Bednarek, Frankowski; Kaminski, Zielinski, S Szymanski, Linetty, Zalewski; Lewandowski
Head to Head
The history between the upcoming teams has been relatively even, with four wins each in their previous eight encounters.
Their first meeting was in March 1997, during a friendly match, which saw the Czech Republic emerge as 2-1 winners.
Time, Date & Venue
Date: Friday, March 24
Time: 07:45 pm, UTC
Venue: Eden Arena stadium, Prague
Prediction
With the recent appointment of Santos as Poland’s manager, we can expect them to be defensively solid as well.
Given the strength of the opposition, a draw would be considered a decent result for either team.
