Three players have been humiliatingly removed from the Czech Republic’s national team camp, including West Ham’s Vladimir Coufal.
The day before a pivotal Euro 2024 qualifying match against Moldova, Jaroslav Silhavy, the team’s manager, banished Coufal, Jakub Brabec, and Jan Kuchta. If Silhavy’s team defeats the visitors on Monday, they will guarantee their spot in the tournament for the following summer.
But, the trio’s expulsion for “fundamentally violating” team rules has severely disrupted their preparations for the crucial match. A statement from the Czech Football Association was posted on social media on Sunday afternoon, confirming the news.
“On Saturday night, three members of the national team essentially broke the team’s internal regulations. The national team management decided to remove Jan Kuchta, Vladimír Coufal, and Jakub Brabec from the meeting immediately,” the statement said.
It was expected that the three players would be taking a break prior to the pivotal match against Moldova. However, according to reports in Czech media, they were instead out until the wee hours of the morning clubbing in Olomouc.
After arriving in Olomouc on Saturday, the Czech team spent the afternoon interacting with fans, signing autographs, and posing for selfies. However, Coufal, Kuchta, and Brabec made the decision to go out and party after arriving back at their hotel.
The three of them were observed consuming alcohol while out until the wee hours of the morning. In response, despite the three players’ significance to him, Silhavy expelled them all from the squad.
With 38 caps for his country, Coufal was the player of the match in Friday’s draw with Poland. Kutcha was chosen to start up front, but Barbec was substituted at centre back before being substituted at halftime.
All the Czechs have to do to guarantee their spot in Germany come summertime is to win their match against Moldova on Monday. Additionally, manager Silhavy is optimistic that they can perform well enough to take second place in Group E.
“We think that on Monday, we’ll make the last push and celebrate at the EURO. Naturally, this comes as a surprise because our group’s favourites were the Poles. To put it succinctly, they were not eligible. It all began in Prague when we were matched together.
In the end, we had opportunities because the Poles opened up the game a lot. We should have changed it; it would have been more silent. It is not a good idea to say that we only need a draw. We can’t assume that everything will go perfectly smoothly because the Moldovans were performing well—they even managed to steal five points from Poland.
