Christian Eriksen has left the hospital and gone home to recuperate following a successful operation. “I am doing well under the circumstances,” he said in a statement, after visiting his teamamtes at their training camp.
Peep! A fairly dire 45 minutes of football ends with the Czech Republic leading by the only goal of the game, a controversial penalty scored by Patrick Schick following a VAR consultation and peek at the pitchside monitor from our Spanish referee.
45+3 min: Mateo Kovacic fouls Schick on the edge of his own penalty area. Free-kick for the Czech Republic a little to the left of goal. Schick blasts the ball over the bar.
45 min: Dion Dublin is on co-comms for the BBC and is adamant that Dejan Lovren was very hard done by in conceding a penalty for playing fast and loose with his elbow, whether he meant to or not.
As much a gentleman as he is and as good a player as he was, I’m not sure Dion is ideally placed to pass definitive judgement on this one. There are professional fiddle players out there who haven’t swung their elbows as often and with as much gusto as both him and Dejan Lovren.
Tom Peck(@tompeck)
Mad VAR decisions in the Czech / Croatia game complicated even further by the stupid third-place-probably-goes-through rule in a group where no one has a clue what result they even want given the horrors that await in the next round.
41 min:Croatia go close to restoring parity from the kick-off, Rebic being put in behind, taking a touch and then slicing the ball wide with a very poor left-footed effort.
38 min: That looked a harsh decision against Croatia. Schick and Lovren were contesting a high ball in the Croatian penalty area. Lovren had eyes only for the ball but caught Schick in the face with his elbow. It was a complete accident but upon being referred to his pitchside monitor by his Video Assistant Referee, the referee decided to award a penalty.
Schick socres! He banged one in from 49 yards against Scotland and does so into the eact same goal from just 12 tonight.
The keeper dives the wrong way for the penalty. Photograph: Stu Forster/Reuters
WOW! After checking his pitchside monitor, Spanish referee Carlos Del Cerra Grande awards the Czech Republic a penalty. That looks a ludicrous decision.
Croatia’s Dejan Lovren and teammates remonstrate with referee. Photograph: Petr David Josek/Reuters
33 min: There’s a break in play as Patrik Schick receives treatment for a bloody nose after shipping what looked like an accidental arm to the face from Dejan Lovren.
Croatia’s Dejan Lovren fouls Czech Republic’s Patrik Schick and concedes a penalty. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/Reuters
30 min: Patrik Schick loses the ball on the edge of the Croatia penalty area. A game that started promisingly has gone quickly downhill and could really do with a spark of quality to re-ignite proceedings. One suspects the lack of jeopardy that comes with various third placed teams in each group going through is going to lead to no end of tedious matches in this second round of group games. With a win under their belts already, the Czech Republic have no incentive to attack. With a defeat to their name, Croatia are happy to bide their time.
28 min: Having started on the back foot, Croatia are now in the ascendency but have yet to create a chance of note beyond the occasional shot from distance.
25 min:Croatia attack again, with Vrsaljko picking up a Hollywood pass from deep on the right touchline. His cross is decent but Rebic can’t gdet near it. Vaclik collects with a minimum of fuss.
23 min: A well-worked corner from Croatia ends with Perisic finding a pocket of space outside the Czech penalty area. He shoots straight at Vaclik, who catches the ball comfortably.
20 min: Croatia striker Rebic and Czech Republic goalkeeper Vaclik sprint towards each other to contest a 50-50 ball after the latter was sold short by a bad back-pass. The goalkeeper wins the race to the ball but his clearance is blocked by the Croatia striker. The ball loops up in the air and sails wide.
Czech Republic’s goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik beats Croatia’s Ante Rebic to the ball. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AP
18 min: The Czechs waste a wonderful scoring opportunity, with Jankto drilling another cross from the left across the face of the six-yard box. There’s nobody on hand to convert it and the ball runs to Coufal, who picks out Schcik on the edge of the six-yard box. The striker loses his footing and scuffs a weak shot wide.
16 min: For Croatia, Brekalo and Rebic combine through the centre but the give and go exchange is intercepted. The idea was commendable but the execution of it was anything but.
15 min: Lots of huff and puff and honest endeavour from both sides, but nothing in the way of decent goalscoring opportunities so far.
12 min: Coufal and Masopust combine down the right for the Czech Republic and the full-back from West Ham sends a cross in. Dejan Lovren heads unconvincingly towards Jankto, who blasts the ball high and wide on the volley.
11 min: Just over 10 minutes into this contest and it has already been far more entertaining than the entire match that preceded it. Sweden and Slovakia take a bow.
10 min: Dejan Lovren sizes up the set-piece, waits for the referee’s whistle and then sends the ball high over defensive wall and cross-bar.
9 min:Croatia win a free-kick directly in front of the Czech goal about 35 yards out, for a Tomas Kalas foul as he attacked a high ball.
8 min: The Czechs attack down the left flank again, but Vladimir Coufal intercepts a pass down the touchline.
6 min: Ivan Perisic does well to get a cross in from the right. Czech goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik flaps it the ball but Croatia striker Ante Rebic is unable to get his head to it and steer it goalwards.
4 min: The Czech Republic are completely dominating these early stages. They win a corner, from which Tomas Soucek sends a header looping on to the roof of the goal.
2 min: Great early pressure from the Czechs, Jankto smashing in a cross from the left which was cleared by Vida’s head. The ball drops for Coufal inside the penalty area, but his shot is blocked.
Czech Republic’s Jakub Jankto, right, challenges for the ball with Croatia’s Sime Vrsaljko. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AP
1 min: Dejan Lovren hacks the ball out of play deep inside his own half, the Czechs blocking his passing avenues back to his goalkeeper and midfielders.
1 min: The Czechs kick off, their players a vision in white. Their Croatian counterparts wear black shirts, shorts and socks.
Not long now: The teams are out on the Hampden Park sward and line up for the national anthems. Kick-off is just a few minutes away.
Those teams: Croatia make two changes, with Duje Caleta-Car and Marcelo Brozovic making way for central defender Dejan Lovren and winger Josip Brekalo. The Czech Republic make just one change, in midfield. Defensive midfielder Tomas Holes replaces Alex Kral in a like for like swap.
Group E: “An intriguing tactical battle, a slow-burning minor classic, an enthralling game of subtly shifting patterns … ah, who are we kidding? This was dreadful, the worst game of the tournament so far by some margin,” writes Jonathan Wilson. Read on ...
Group E: In Saint Petersburg, Sweden have just beaten Slovakia in one of the worst games of football I have ever seen. It briefly sparked into life for seven minutes halfway through the second half, with Emil Forsberg’s penalty guaranteeing his side’s passage to the second round, following a game which so dreadful the BBC punditry panel more or less abandoned their half-time analysis in favour of a sing-song.
Zlatko Dalic speaks ...
“We have not been good lately in our attacking phase and that’s something we need to improve,” said Croatia’s manager. “We need to do better in that. We need to be more vertical, more offensive and create more chances in attack.
“We are playing against a team that defeated Scotland and started with a win. They are in a more comfortable situation than us, but we are aware that we need a win to bring back our confidence – and we ready to do it.”
Zlatko Dalic addresses the press. Photograph: Reuters
Jaroslav Silhavy speaks ...
“Luka Modrič is an excellent player – for me, one of the best players in the world,” said the Czech Republic manager. “He can use up the slightest space to create big chances. We have to pay a lot of attention to him and close him down very tightly.”
On rumours he make a change to his line-up. “It is true that we are discussing a change in the starting line-up, but we will first tell it to the team,” he said. “As regards our positive mood, I can assure you we are firmly on the ground and we know that we are going to play against very strong opponents.”
A non-nonsense defender in his day, Jaroslav Silhavy got stuck in during his team’s training session in PRague yesterday. Photograph: Martin Divíšek/EPA
Some pre-match listening
Football Weekly, the Guardian’s insightful, amusing, chart-topping, multiple award-winning (at least until Peter Crouch started flexing his pod-muscle) podcast has gone daily for the duration of Euro 2020. You can listen to it here and download it for free in all the usual pod places.
This evening’s match officials
Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande (Spain)
Assistant referees: Juan Yuste and Roberto Fernandez (Spain)
Fourth official: Sandro Schärer (Switzerland)
Video Assistant Referee: Juan Martínez Munuera (Spain)
Carlos del Cerro Grande has already refereed France’s win over Germany in this tournament. Photograph: Matthias Hangst/Reuters
Early team news
Luka Modric was spotted training on his own in the day or two following his side’s defeat at Wembley but is expected to be fit for today’s game, where he could be partnered by Nikola Vlasic, who started Sunday’s game on the bench. Centre-back Dejan Lovren missed out against England but is believed to be available for selection although this game has come too soon for Rangers left-back Borna Barisic, who remains sidelined with a back injury and has not travelled to Scotland. The Czech Republic, by contrast, have a fully fit squad to choose from.
Borna Barisic (left) remains out with a back injury and faces a race against time to be fit for Croatia’s final group game against Scotland. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA
While consumers of British media outlets could understandably be forgiven for thinking that England’s match against Scotland is today’s only Group D show in town, Croatia and the Czech Republic must first duke it out at Hampden Park before we can all get on with the fun.
An ageing Croatia side massively underwhelmed in defeat in their opener against England and are in desperate need of at least a point, while the Czech Republic will be hoping to build on their win over Scotland in Glasgow.
Kick-off in Scotland is at 5pm (BST) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
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