Scotland vs Czech Republic Match Preview

Scotland will start this European Championship knowing they have a tough task ahead, as they are in a group alongside Czech Republic, England and Croatia. They are considered to be the weakest team in this group and considering that in the next match they will have to face England it just makes things worse.

In the recent Nations League they finished second in their group, two points behind Czech Republic that they have to face now. It was an average campaign for them, considering that they beat Czechs twice in their h2h games but they collapsed in the final two duels. As for the World Cup qualifiers, they have done what was expected, they won against poor Faroe islands, while drawing against Israel and Austria.

In the recent two friendly games prior to the European Championship, we saw them drawing against Netherlands 2-2 followed by a minimal 0-1 victory against Luxembourg. They have a good team but in terms of quality I think they miss talent in attack, something that could prove to be their problem in this competition. 

Czech Republic is the second favorite to pass through this group, after England beat Croatia. They have a very good generation of players and in the last few years they have improved drastically, as it was clear in the results they got. Especially their Nations League campaign was impressive, actually, they managed to qualify for League A finishing first in a tough group.

That trend was continued in the World Cup qualifiers as they got an impressive 2-6 win over Estonia and a 1-1 draw against Belgium, before falling to Wales, 1-0 on the road. Still, their situation is quite favorable for a 2nd spot finish. Prior to the European Championship, they suffered a heavy 4-0 friendly loss to Italy and bounced back with a 3-1 win over Albania.

In conclusion, I think Czech Republic can win this match or get at least a draw. They have a better team than their opponents, in my opinion, with players like Schick, Darida or Soucek who come after great personal seasons. Scotland is a decent team but I do not see them having what it takes to claim all three points here. Their lack of offensive options is something that does not allow any confidence over them.