“It’s not very optimistic”: Hašek offers grim prognosis on Schick injury

Czechia head coach Ivan Hašek has confirmed that Patrik Schick is set to undergo examinations tomorrow after injuring his calf against Georgia.

The Czech Republic’s Euro 2024 campaign has improved marginally despite still underperforming as the side responded to defeat at the hands of Portugal with a 1-1 draw with Georgia. The scoreline could have and perhaps should have read differently, as Czechia accumulated 3.11xG through 27 shots, many of which were kept out by Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, whose 11 saves made the difference on Saturday afternoon.

Hašek has told the press that “Patrik Schick goes to other examinations at the hospital tomorrow and we will see… At this moment, it’s not very optimistic regarding Patrik Schick’s injury, but that’s how it is.”

While Schick, who scored 13 goals for Leverkusen in 2023/24, will be a loss, Hašek is unperturbed and confident in his squad depth.

“[Schick] is a key player, he knows how to score goals, but we do have players that can go there instead of him. We have a lot of guys and they deserve their chance, and they will fight to stay in the tournament.”

He also explained that Antonín Barák made a very limited cameo after running a fever last night.

“Today [Barák] didn’t have an elevated temperature but he didn’t feel well still so there must be some kind of virus,” said Hašek. “I know he wanted to play because he is a really great footballer and everybody wants to lay, but the doctors said 15 minutes maximum, and I saw with my own eyes that he is not 100% fit, but he can still help the team and I hope he will be fit for next game.”

Despite failing to achieve the desired result, Hašek lauded his side’s performance.

“I want to thank my players for how they played in this game. We knew how our opponent plays and you saw their counterattacks, their players, they are really quick and they threatened us.

“We had 26 shots at goal and we scored only one and almost lost but that’s football, but I need to thank them for their energy and their excitement in the game… If you see how energetic the boys are going into it, we don’t want to go home yet, we will fight until the very end so that we can get into the playoffs.”

He was particularly complimentary of West Ham’s Tomáš Souček and Slavia Prague’s Matej Jurásek.

“We saw Souček the way he plays at West Ham and why he is so useful,” he said. “There are a lot of crosses into the box, he attacked but also defended – really great performance.”

He also applauded the ‘cheeky’ Jurásek, who was a threat in attack throughout his 30-minute cameo.

“[Matej] Jurásek at his age is very cheeky, he has this self-confidence, he is strong on the ball, quick, great left leg, as a player when he gets on the pitch you saw in the offensive that he really played well. We wanted him to put more great crosses into the box, and I think he has a great future ahead of him.”

Looking ahead to a final group stage match against Türkiye, Hašek confirms that Czechia are ready to fight to the end to qualify for the knockout round.

“If you look in the locker room, you look at the guys, I saw them after the game and I don’t think they are giving up. We will do our best, do 110% to get out of the group. We want to stay in this tournament as long as possible.”

Discussing Türkiye’s threat, he added: “It will be a completely different game. Türkiye has a different style and we need to analyse them. I expect it will be very different, a different way of attacking for us. They have great individual players, players that play in the best leagues in Europe and in the world, so we will see.”

Finally, Hašek thanked the fans, saying: “The atmosphere the fans brought here is not something that happens every day so I want to thank the fans as well.

“After the game, the players went to thank the fans, but I also want to thank Georgian fans because the atmosphere was amazing. We want to stay in the tournament to enjoy this atmosphere as long as we can.”

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