Speaking from Leipzig Stadion ahead of Czechia’s opening match of EURO2024, Ivan Hašek and Tomáš Souček insisted that the Reprezentace will not take a defeat lying down.
The Seleçao das Quinas is littered with household names, and Hašek accepts that playing against the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo is something many of his players “will remember for their whole lives.”
Portugal v Czechia is scheduled to get underway at 20:00 BST [21:00 CEST] on Tuesday, 18 June. It’s the final game of Matchday 1 at EURO2024, with all of the teams involved in Wednesday’s action having already played at the tournament.
We’ll provide extensive coverage of the action in Leipzig on FromTheSpot.
What did Ivan Hašek say?
“Portugal are one of the huge favourites for the European Championships. We go into the game thinking that they’re the favourites,” expressed Hašek on Tuesday afternoon.
“But we want to win,” he added. His Czech team aren’t in Germany for the sake of it – they want to make a name for themselves, competing at just their second European Championships since the split from Czechoslovakia in the 1990s.
“Portuguese players are very well known and popular all over the world. We are not so well known. We have to face the Portuguese stars with a team performance. This is our only chance to succeed. We know that if we don’t play actively, if we just defend, we have no chance of success – we might as well put our heads down and walk off the pitch.”
“I would like us to say after the game not just that we played against Ronaldo, but that maybe we beat Ronaldo. That would be a memory of a lifetime for the players,” Hašek expressed, his optimism palpable.
Their last appearance in this competition came a staggering 18 years ago, with that 2006 tournament also being held on German soil. The Reprezentace suffered a group stage elimination back then, and EURO2024 comes as a crucial opportunity to show that progress has been made over the course of almost two decades that have followed.
What did Tomáš Souček say?
Lining up against the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo at a major tournament is bound to strike fear into any side. For Czechia, it would be perfectly understandable if that fear is exemplified ahead of their meeting with Portugal on Tuesday – for the result will define the momentum that accompanies them throughout the remainder of the EURO2024 group stages.
But if Tomáš Souček is nervous, he doesn’t show it. Two years ago, the midfielder highlighted Portugal as one of the world’s best teams, and he confirmed reporters that “the answer is the same” today. He expects the Seleçao das Quinas to go far at EURO2024, potentially even lifting the prized Henri Delauney Cup in Berlin on July 14 – but first, they will be made to toil against Czechia.
“Portugal are not only the favourites in our group, but in the whole tournament,” expressed the West Ham midfielder, speaking with a smile on his face in Leipzig ahead of Tuesday’s match.
“They have shown their quality over several years. If we talk specifically about [Cristiano] Ronaldo, he is still a big star, of course. The same goes for Bruno Fernandes. But I wouldn’t say it’s just about those two players. More and more players are joining them, we certainly won’t underestimate them because we know they have quality both offensively and defensively.”
“We know we can’t give him [Ronaldo] an inch of space,” insisted Soućek, who suggested that his side will “have to double [up against] him and make him unavailable. But that applies not only to him, but also to his teammates.”
Czechia won’t be dazed by those big names, insists Souček, who highlighted the fact that “you start every game at 0-0.”
“We believe we have a chance. In football, there’s always a chance to win… we want to take them on, because every point will count in this group. Our goal is to advance out of the group, and our tournament starts on Tuesday so we want to get off to a good start. We’ll go into the game with our heads up from the first minute.”