Greeks and Czechs face defensive woes
Reuters - Monday 11 June 2012, 01:00
Greece and the Czech
Republic have defensive problems ahead of their Euro 2012 clash
in Group A on Tuesday with the Greeks missing their first-choice
central defence and the Czechs desperate to plug a leaky back-line.
Greek coach Fernando Santos must find replacements for
Avraam Papadopoulos, who is out of the tournament with a knee
injury, and Sokratis Papastathopoulos who is suspended after
being harshly dismissed against Poland in the Group A opener.
The pair anchored a defence that conceded only five goals in
qualifying and Santos will likely pair veteran midfielder Costas
Katsouranis with 20-year old Kyriakos Papadopoulos who came on
for his namesake in the 1-1 draw against the co-hosts.
The Czechs have defensive issues as well but their problems
are mostly of their own making after Russia ran riot in a 4-1
victory on Friday, mainly due to glaring mistakes at the back.
Czech coach Michal Bilek might be tempted to move Michal
Kadlec back to central defence from the left side and bring in
David Limbersky, while defensive midfielder Tomas Hubschman
could also start the game to reinforce the rearguard.
Despite their terrible start to the tournament, Czech
defender Roman Hubnik said the difficulty they had qualifying
for the finals after a play-off with Montenegro will help them
deal with the pressure against Greece in Wroclaw.
UNDER PRESSURE
"If we lose our chances are gone," Hubnik said. "The
pressure for this game will be higher than the pressure in our [final group] game against Russia."
While defending is a worry, both teams also need to find
their scoring touch with Greece having netted just 14 times in
10 qualifying matches, the lowest tally among the finalists.
The Czechs rely on Milan Baros but the Euro 2004 Golden Boot
winner has scored just three times in the past two years for his
country and looked isolated with little support against Russia.
The Czechs have been boosted by the fact that striker Baros
and captain Tomas Rosicky have finally overcome their injury
problems but they must still find a way to break down the Greece
defence, which they have failed to do in their last four games.
The Czechs, who have not beaten Greece in 30 years since a
2-1 win in a friendly in March 1982, also have extra motivation
against the side that beat them in the Euro 2004 semi-finals.
Poland play group favourites Russia in Warsaw's National
Stadium in the second Group A game on Tuesday.