Next Wednesday, September 3, 2014 (11:15 AM Pacific), the USA will travel to the Czech Republic to face the home side at the Generali Arena in Prague, on what will be the visitors’ first international after last Summer’s World Cup tournament.
The glory days of Czech football seem to be somehow gone, as one could easily observe from the team’s performances during the World Cup Qualifying round. The team failed to qualify for the Brazilian competition and will definitely now enter a period of reconstruction that is almost mandatory, in order for them to restore those good old days, when they were led by Pavel Nedved and his peers and reached the semi-finals of the Euro 2004 that took place in Portugal.
The arrival of Pavel Vrba to the helm of the team earlier this year marked the beginning of a new era for the Czech national team and although they finished third on their qualifying group, the former Viktoria Plzen’s manager implemented some fresh ideas that might be profitable for the team in the future.
The Czech will use the match against the USA to prepare their weekend’s Euro 2016 qualification clash with The Netherlands and for that reason they will certainly bring out their big guns to test the team’s routines prior to such an important match.
The new Czech team is mainly composed of young players currently playing on a domestic level, but they also rely on the experience of talented footballers such as Tomas Rosicky, Petr Cech, Vladimir Darida, Michal Kadlec and Petr Jiracek, to help integrate the newcomers and create some sort of a mixture between experience and irreverence, which might help the team to recover from their past international failures.
As for the US team, the match against the Czech will be their first test after the Brazilian World Cup, during which they left a very good image of themselves. The American side’s manager, Jürgen Klinsmann, who has been doing a fantastic job at the helm of team so far, will use this match to test several young and promising footballers that are currently playing at the European football. The German head coach has only named one player from the MLS, Nick Rimando, and he has also called a promising footballer from Stanford University, Jordan Morris, who will play his first professional match.
For the match against the Czech, Klinsmann will not be able to count on the contribution of Geoff Cameron, who is currently sidelined due to injury.
USA vs Czech Republic Prediction
Judging from both sides’ recent performances, one must consider the USA as firm favourites to win Wednesday’s clash, although and having in mind the numerous changes Klinsmann will promote in the team, the Czech, who are going through a renovation period, might have a word to say. This being said, the most likely outcome is 2-1 for the Czech Republic.
USA vs Czech Republic Lineups
Czech Republic (4-2-3-1) – Cech – Reznik – Kadlec- Prochazka – Suchy – Horava – Darida – Kolar – Rosicky – Jiracek – Vydra
USA (4-4-1-1) – Guzan – Johnson – John Brooks – Orozco – Tim Ream – Bedoya – Diskerud – Corona – Shea – Green – Altidore
USA vs Czech Republic TV Info
The match will be televised this Wednesday, at 11:15 AM Pacific, on NBC Sports Network and Univision Deportes.
