Emmet Malonesuggests that Karel Bruckner's Czech Republic may not be well enough equipped to go any further in the competition

WHILE KOBI Kuhn's time as coach to the Swiss side has ended in disappointment, his Czech counterpart, Karel Bruckner, is still determined to focus on what might be ahead of tomorrow night's make-or-break encounter with Turkey in Geneva.

For the rather genteel 68-year-old to bow out in this centre of international diplomacy would, in its way, be appropriate enough, but the first man to lead the Czechs to three consecutive major championships was pointedly declining to get misty-eyed when the press dropped by to discuss what could prove to be his swansong tomorrow evening.

"I have no feelings," he said quietly. "It could be my last match in charge, but there is another alternative."

For that alternative to take effect, the Czechs must either beat Turkey over 90 minutes or get the better of them in the penalty shoot-out that would follow a draw. On both counts they start as slight favourites with Bruckner having what would appear to be rather comfortably the better group of players to work with while, historically, the country has a quite astonishing record when it comes to penalty shoot-outs.

In three to date, they have scored every single one of their 20 attempts on goal and Antonin Panenka even managed to pioneer the chipped spot kick with the decisive effort when his side won the 1976 European title by beating West Germany on penalties.

The problem for the Czechs, however, is that to date they have not come close to reproducing the sort of form they showed four years ago in Portugal where Bruckner's men won four straight games before going out to Greece in extra-time thanks to a moment of sloppiness when defending a set-piece.

The team's defence, which boasts experienced Serie A players, remains solid and Petr Cech again looks one of the tournament's goalkeepers even if he might not be quite the phenomenon he was before that clash with Stephen Hunt.

However, the side's midfield has looked decidedly average here in their two games and even if they do get past the Turks, it now looks hard to imagine how they might get much further without raising their game a level or two.

For their supporters the concern must be that Bruckner, a wily old tactician whose finest moment was probably the compelling group stage encounter with the Dutch four years ago, has so far been unable to engineer the required improvement in this tournament. And while the debate continues over whether he should start tomorrow evening with a second striker, his concern at what damage such a move might do to the balance of his midfield serves to highlight the squad's lack of depth.

In particular, though, his troubles stem, as many thought they might, from the absence of Tomas Rosicky, the Arsenal midfielder whose season was ended back in January when he limped out of a cup game against Newcastle United.

The 27-year-old had inherited the tag of the team's creative heartbeat after the umpteenth retirement of Pavel Nedved but it seemed for a while that the veteran Juventus midfielder might return yet again to fill the gap left by his successor's injury with the team's former skipper strongly revealing in March that he was considering a return.

"I don't know whether I should return now," he said at the time. "It is hard to say. I have not been there for a long time and I don't know if I could be of any use and if I could help the team."

In the event, Bruckner decided in May that he could, naming him in his preliminary squad for the tournament but Nedved ultimately decided not to come.

Now, Bruckner must look to the likes of Jaroslav Plasil, Jan Polak and Marek Matejovsky to provide inspiration in the centre of the park but the evidence to date suggests that none is quite capable of doing it at this level.

The team, as it happens, has not helped its cause over the past couple of years with its behaviour off the pitch. Excessive celebration of the 3-0 win over the United States at the last World Cup is reported to have contributed to the dramatic decline in the quality of their performances after what was a very impressive opening game while the high jinks that accompanied Tomas Ujfalusi's birthday celebrations after the 1-2 home defeat by Germany during the qualifying campaign for these championships almost cost Bruckner his job.

There was a fear back then that the coach had lost the respect of his players but a strong finish to the campaign, including the rather easy 1-0 win over Ireland in Prague and a subsequent 3-0 defeat of a weakened German side in Munich silenced those who had called for a change of leadership.

The critics might get their way soon enough now but a win tomorrow would ensure that Bruckner departs on the sort of high Kuhn had so desperately wanted.

Unless they can start performing in the way did during the first half against Portugal on a consistent basis, however, it could be the end of the road.