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Having lost the opener of the World Cup 2-0 to one of the hosts, Mexico, in Mexico City last Thursday, Bafana Bafana know a win is non-negotiable in their second match in Group A against Czechia in Atlanta on Thursday if they want to advance to the knockout phase. Here are a few key facts about Czechia.
- Czechia are ranked 43rd by Fifa, 18 places ahead of Bafana.
- As Czechia, this is only their second World Cup after qualifying for the 2006 edition in Germany, where they failed to get out of the group stages. Czechia qualified for eight World Cups when it was previously Czechoslovakia (a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from 1918 to 1992).
- Czechia are admired for their tactical discipline and physicality.
- This nation has produced a few world-class talents, most notably the 2003 Ballon d’Or winner Pavel Nedvěd, all-time leading scorer Jan Koller and legendary Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Čech.
- Key players for Czechia include Bayer Leverkusen striker Patrik Schick, West Ham United midfielder Tomáš Souček, and Lyon attacking midfielder Pavel Šulc.
- Czechia also lost their Group A opener of this World Cup 2-1 to South Korea last Thursday.
- Of Czechia’s 26 players at this World Cup, 16 play football domestically. Local giants Slavia Prague have 10 players in Jindřich Staněk, David Douděra, Tomáš Holeš, Štěpán Chaloupek, David Jurásek, David Zima, Lukáš Provod, Michal Sadílek, Tomáš Chorý, and Mojmír Chytil in the squad, while their rivals Sparta Prague boast three in Jaroslav Zelený, Hugo Sochůrek and Jan Kuchta. Viktoria Plzeň have two players (Lukáš Červ and Alexandr Sojka), while Hradec Králové only have one in Vladimír Darida.
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