West Ham United and Czech Republic midfielder Tomas Soucek has been talking to FourFourTwo about facing England in the group stage of Euro 2020.
Soucek has been in glittering form in the Premier League all season, and will face England in the Czechs' final group game at Wembley on June 22. Soucek has met the Three Lions at Wembley before, in the opening qualifying game for the competition. England cruised to a 5-0 victory, courtesy of a Raheem Sterling treble.
“I looked forward to that match because Wembley is an incredible stadium, but we were probably too scared by England and deserved to lose,” admits Soucek.
“I don’t remember that day pleasantly, but I was happy we could play against England again in the Czech Republic. We needed to support each other and not be scared. We had to believe in ourselves.”
Since then, however, the Czechs have beaten England - and Soucek wantst to see a repeat of that.
“It was the first time we’d beaten England,” he says of a feat that had never been done before, even in the days of Czechoslovakia. “They’re one of the best teams in the world, but we beat them. Because of that, we were second and reached the Euros, so it was two huge things in one game.
“Now I’m happy that we can play England again – I hope we won’t be scared this time. We need to look back at the home game we played against them, as the pitch is always the same. We have to play like ourselves and not look at the England team or at Wembley. We should prepare like we did at home, when we beat them 2-1.”
The showdown will pit Soucek and Coufal against their West Ham team-mate Declan Rice. Normally, Soucek and Rice partner each other in the Hammers’ midfield – this time, they go head to head. Scoring at England’s home and helping his nation to a historic win, then? He’ll have a bit of that.
“It’s a dream of mine, yes, a proper dream – especially now I’m playing in the Premier League,” admits Soucek. “That match will be a special moment for West Ham supporters, because I will be playing against Declan. We’ve spoken about it – he told us that we can’t win at Wembley and we said, ‘Well, remember your last game against us!’ It’s been fun, it’s been friendly. Only the 90 minutes on the pitch will be unfriendly, perhaps.”
Soucek knows he also risks upsetting Moyes at the Euros. “I hope that our manager won’t be happy too, because we’re playing our opening game against Scotland!” he chuckles. “I hope that after those games, I can head back to West Ham just with a smile.”
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