Durban/Warsaw - No excuse could possibly justify the Czech national team´s potential failure to qualify for the next world championship in football, to be held in South Africa in 2010.
Last Sunday a draw in Durban put Czechs in one group with Slovakia, Poland, Northern Ireland, San Marino and Slovenia. The group is considered relatively easy, if not the easiest of all.
Once again, the ex-federation derby awaits as Czechs meet Slovaks just like they did in the recently finished Euro 2008 qualifying round where Czechs won 3:0 in Bratislava and 3:1 in Prague.
There is one more opponent the Czech national team led by coach, Karel Brückner, has had fresh experience with: San Marino, once again the clear outsider of the group, lost to Czechs 3:0 at home and 7:0 in Prague in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.
Wheres Slovenes should not pose much of a threat, the team from Northern Ireland, which beat the Spanish and Swedish national teams during the Euro 2008 qualifying round to narrowly miss advancing to the tournament, should not be underestimated.
The only straight qualifier for the World Cup is the winner of each group. Eight teams placing second in all European groups will go to the play-offs (home and away games) to become the last four to advance.
Poland: happy, but cautious
Polish national squad, led by the skilled Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker, is considered the most serious rival for the Czechs.
They are still savoring the success of their first ever qualifying for the European championship after winning the group with Portugal, Serbia, Finland, and Belgium, but the third World Cup participation in a row is the challenge for them from now on.
"The 2010 World Cup qualifying round draw has been very good to us, at least due to the absence of exhaustive travel between the matches," coach Beenhakker told the news server gazeta.pl.
"Team Czech Republic? The second best team in Europe in my opinion with a style similar to that of the Croatian or the Serbian teams. Nevertheless, it is too early to compare the teams as they will change after The European Cup in 2008. There is no point, therefore, to try and say who the favorite is," added Mr. Beenhakker.
Polish media have devoted much space to analyzing the Czech team. "The Czechs: Richer history and better players", announces the Rzecpospolita article with the sub-title "The Czechs taught us to play football until we ourselves started to attack World Cup medal positions."
The Czech football school
The author of the article recalls Czech and Czechoslovak football achievements, tradition of the Czech coaches in Poland as well as some of the Czech inventions like "the Czech alley passing" and "the soft loft from Vršovice", named after the memorable winning goal of the 1976 European Cup final penalty shoot-out between Czechoslovakia and West Germany, performed by Antonín Panenka.
František Koželuh (Cracovia) and Jaroslav Vejvoda (Legia) are mentioned as the coaches that helped to raise the level of Polish football.
Rzecpospolita labels the Czech team as the group favorites, although it points out that the draw could have ended up far worse for the Polish team.
"France or Netherland would be a bigger threat to our team than the Czech Republic, in spite of the fact that both are currently ranked lower," writes the Polish daily.
The Northern Ireland is seen as the second most difficult opponent, due to their great performance in the 2008 European qualifications. "Their last victories against Spain and Sweden command great respect," Rzecpospolita says.
On the other hand, the teams of Slovakia and Slovenia are not considered as real competitors in the group. "Slovaks have seen all the big tournaments only in television, so far", states Rzecpospolita.
