Czech coach heaps praise on Spain midfielder

Czech Republic coach Pavel Vrba has revealed that Sergio Busquets is the Spaniard he would most like at his disposal in Euro 2016.

His side’s first match will be against Spain in Toulouse on June 13 and he has already spent a lot of time evaluating their squad.

Asked which player he would take from the Spanish squad to include in his, Vrba was clear who he would pick.

“Sergio Busquets,” he declared. I think he is Spain’s most important player because of everything he does and what his work allows his teammates to do.”

The manager discussed the other teams in Group D and how he believes it to be a very tricky group.

“It is one of the most difficult groups that there is,” he added.

“There are four teams, all of a similar style. Croatia, thanks to Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric, is the team that most closely resembles Spain, but Turkey also do, with Arda Turan.”

The good news for the Czech Republic, however, is that they get to play Spain first.

“I think it is better to play Spain first than at the end,” Vrba admitted.

“I would rather go into the last match not relying on having to defeat Spain. We watched how they did in qualification. We have also looked at their matches from the past, but we wanted to prioritise the qualifying matches as they best show the state of the current team.

“Spain is one of these teams that everybody knows quite well and that you don’t have to spend much time discovering.”

Asked what he had discovered from watching Spain’s qualifying matches, he noted that they looked hungry to overcome the disappointment of the Brazil World Cup.

“It’s obvious that they have a lot of desire and an extra motivation to get over the pain of the 2014 World Cup,” he said.

Vrba does not, however, believe that the World Cup will affect Spain’s mentality.

“They will be focussed on Euro 2016 and on showing their quality, not on Brazil and on past situations,” the Czech said.

 

Vrba was also asked about the composition of this Spain squad and whether or not the fact that Spain still has a lot of the players from Euro 2008 means they have an age problem.

“As far as I can tell, these players continue to play important roles in high-quality teams and they continue to win the biggest titles,” he said. “They also have a very promising group of youngsters, which makes this Spain squad a strong one.

“I don’t think they have a problem and I don’t think you could say this team is weaker, because their mix of experience and youth if very positive.