West Ham United veteran Tomas Soucek is only on the bench for the Czech Republic ahead of their second World Cup match against South Africa.
As surprising as this may seem from the outside, inside the Czech Republic, criticism of the experienced midfielder has been increasing for some time.
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Soucek was accused of ‘holding back’ the national team before their 2-1 defeat by South Korea in Guadalajara.
West Ham United’s number 28 was a tight offside call away from scoring on his World Cup debut while putting Miroslav Koubek’s side in front late in the day.
Instead, Tomas Soucek strayed just beyond the last man, South Korea went down the other end to net the winner, and now he isn’t even part of Koubek’s XI for the second matchday in Atlanta.
A sliding doors moment, perhaps.
West Ham United’s Tomas Soucek starts on the bench for Czech Republic
Czech reporter Pavel Horvath, speaking to iRozhlas, may feel vindicated.
He predicted that Soucek may start on the bench as Koubek makes five changes from the defeat to a far-superior South Korea outfit five days earlier.
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“Of course, we did not win that match and the coaching staff have a lot of things going on in their heads,” he said before Thursday’s 5pm kick-off at the Mercedes Benz Stadium.
“[The defeat] will not concern the attacking trio at all; Pavel Sulc, Lukas Provod and Patrik Schick will have confidence. I think we can expect a surprise that Tomas Soucek [could be dropped], but I do not dare to speculate further.
“Maybe it is a bit of a sly [idea] from Mr. Koubek.”
Soucek was stripped of the captain’s armband by the Czech management after he was accused of blanking the fans following a 6-0 thrashing of Gibraltar in the qualifiers.
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