The 2020 European Championship continues on Monday the 14th of June and we have a Group D encounter to look forward to between Scotland and Czech Republic.
The match will be played at Hampden Park, Glasgow and the Scots will have home advantage for this game as one of the hosts of the competition.
2 friendly games behind us. Now we are going to go on first match in tournament. We are getting excited. Thanks everyone for your support #euro2020 🇨🇿2 přátelský zápasy za námi. Nyní půjdeme na první zápas turnaje. Těšíme se na to. Díky všem za podporu 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/KgAUoXJ29H— Tomáš Souček (@tomassoucek28) June 9, 2021
2 friendly games behind us. Now we are going to go on first match in tournament. We are getting excited. Thanks everyone for your support #euro2020 🇨🇿2 přátelský zápasy za námi. Nyní půjdeme na první zápas turnaje. Těšíme se na to. Díky všem za podporu 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/KgAUoXJ29H
Scotland finished third in their European Championship qualifying group, 9 points behind second place Russia and 15 points behind group winners Belgium.
It was a disappointing qualifying campaign but Scotland reached the playoffs thanks to their Nations League performance.
They met Israel in the semi-final and progressed via a penalty shootout following a 0-0 draw and the same happened in the final against Serbia following a 1-1 draw.
Scotland have proved difficult to beat in recent games and they are undefeated in each of their last 5 matches. In fact, Scotland have lost only 2 of their last 16 fixtures in all competitions.
They have recently defeated Luxembourg in a friendly and the Faroe Islands in 2022 World Cup qualifying.
They are the only 2 victories for Scotland in their 6 most recent games having been held to a draw by Austria and Israel in World Cup qualifying plus the Netherlands in a friendly.
Trends show Scotland have not been beaten in their last 8 straight home clashes in all competitions.
Czech Republic qualified for the tournament by finishing second in their group behind England. They were 4 points clear of third placed Kosovo but 6 points adrift of the English, despite beating England when playing them at home in the group.
Czech Republic started their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign with a good 6-2 win in Estonia and backed that up with a 1-1 draw at home against group favourites Belgium.
However, they suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat away against Wales and that was followed by a heavy 4-0 loss away to Italy in a friendly match.
Czech Republic won their most recent game as they beat Albania 3-1 at home in a friendly prior to the tournament.
Czech Republic qualified for the 2016 European Championship but were disappointing as they failed to progress beyond the group stage of the competition.
They lost 2 of their 3 games, picking up just a point in a 2-2 draw with Croatia.
Team news and Scotland will be captained by Liverpool full-back, Andrew Robertson. Kieran Tierney, Scott McTominay, John McGinn, Stuart Armstrong, Liam Cooper, Ché Adams, and Ryan Fraser all play in the English Premier League and could start this match.
Czech Republic can call upon the experience of captain, Vladimír Darida plus Tomáš Vaclík in goal. West Ham United duo Vladimír Coufal and Tomáš Souček are sure to start if fit with Patrik Schick likely to play in attack.
This has the makings of being an extremely close game and both teams will be wary of losing with England and Croatia to come in the group. Therefore, this match could end goalless, with the points being shared.