The Czech Republic will be hoping to repeat the success of their 1996 squad when they compete in the EURO Championship finals in Poland/Ukraine this Summer.

The current squad will face Ireland at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, on Wednesday, February 29, intent on clinching a place in the squad that will compete in the same group as Russia, Greece and co-hosts Poland in the EURO 2012 finals in June.

They will have to excel in Poland if they are to match the achievements of the 1996 squad who battled their way to the final of the Championship at Wembley. They were beaten 2-1 by Germany in dramatic fashion as Germany's centre-forward, Oliver Bierhoff, scored with a deflected shot after just five minutes of extra time.

The Czechs had taken the lead in regular time when Patrik Berger hammered home a penalty after 59 minutes when Karel Poborsky was fouled. Bierhoff came in as substitute for Germany and he headed an equaliser in the 73rd minute and his extra time goal was the first time the 'Golden Goal' system was used. The match abruptly ended when he scored the second.

That Czech squad became very famous afterwards. Apart from Berger and Poborsky there were others who built big reputations at club level, especially Pavel Nedved with Juventus, and Vladimir Smicer with Liverpool.

The best known members of the current squad are the Chelsea goalkeeper, Petr Cech, and Arsenal midfielder Thomas Rosicky.

Coach Michal Bilek has named the following squad for a match that will kick-off at 7.45 pm on Wednesday next:

Goalkeepers: P. Cech (Chelsea), J. Drobny (Hamburg).

Defenders: T. Gebre Selassie (Liberec), R. Hubnik (Hertha Berlin), M. Kadlec (Bayer Leverkusen), D. Pudil (Cesena), J. Rajnoch (Silvassport), F. Rajtoral (Viktoria Pizen), T. Sivok (Besiktas).

Midfielders: T. Hubschman (Shakhtar Donetsk), P. Jiracek (Wolfsburg), D. Kolar (Pizen), M. Petrzela (Pizen), V. Pilar (Pizen), J. Plasil (Bordeaux), J. Rezek (Anarthosis Famagusta), T. Rosicky (Arsenal).

Forwards: M. Baros (Galatasaray), D. Lafata (Jablonec), T. Pekhart (Nuremberg).

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