Czech Republic v Germany: Dutch supporters are likely to pay as much attention to this game as to their team's match against Latvia in Braga tonight. Put simply, the Czechs hold the key to Holland's fate since a Dutch win against Latvia will be meaningless unless a second-choice Czech side, already winners of the group, take at least a point off the Germans.
And there's the rub. From one viewpoint, Germany must be the favourites since the game means nothing to the Czechs. At best, the match offers Czech reserves the chance to strut their stuff while established first choice stars such as Pavel Nedved, Tomas Rosicky, Tomas Galasek, Milan Barros, Jan Koller and Karel Poborsky sit it out the on the wings.
In modern professional sport, as we all know, motivation is everything. So what is in it for the Czechs? Pride and the need to maintain a winning run, answers their assistant coach Miroslav Biranek, who said yesterday: "We want to finish the group with a third victory in a row. Our subs are hungry to finally get a game and prove a point."
In the Czech midfield Roman Tyce of Munich 1860, Vladimir Smicer of Liverpool and Sepan Vachousek of Olympique Marseilles will replace Galasek, Nedved and Rosicky respectively, while in attack Jaroslav Plasil of Monaco, Marek Heinz of Banik Ostra and Vratislav Lokvenc of Kaiserslautern step in for Poborsky, Barros and Koller.
With all due respect to these players and their clubs, it is difficult to imagine that they will be strong enough for a full-strength German side which absolutely has to win to be sure of finishing ahead of the Dutch. If and when the Czechs do lose, then be prepared for some pretty emphatic and understandable Dutch complaints.
German coach Rudi Voeller may opt to start with 19-year-old Bayern Munich star Bastian Schweinsteiger on the right of midfield given that Bayer Leverkusen's Bernd Schneider is doubtful because of a knock picked up in the 0-0 draw with Latvia.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
GERMANY (4-5-1): Kahn; Friedrich, Worns, Nowotny, Lahm; Schweinsteiger, Hamann, Ballack, Frings; Kuranyi, Bobic
CZECH REPUBLIC (4-4-2): Cech; Grygera, Ujfalusl, Jiranek: Tyce, Smicer, Vachousek, Jankulovski; Plasil, Heinz, Lokvenc.
Referee: Terje Hauge (Norway)
