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The Czechs looking to keep a clean sheet half way through the qualifying period

Czech Republic have a perfect chance of extending their winning run against the modest Latvia to get one small step away from qualifying to France

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Not many Czech football fans could imagine their national team would win all the EURO qualifiers up until now but Pavel Vrba's team is doing brilliantly against the fierce competition in the group, having won all 4 games they played so far. 

To mark the end of the first part of the qualifying period, the Czechs are hosting the modest Latvians (99th in FIFA's rank) in Prague today. It will be an attempt to another three points for a total of 15, which would get them extremely close to qualifying for France. 

- We want to carry on in the same manner. We want to win but we can't even think it would be easy. Latvia lost to the Netherlands 0-6 but they played a draw with Turkey and Kazakhstan. They can do well in defense while transforming it into dangerous attacks - team captain Rosicky said. He is too experienced to get dazzled by the euphoria and won't be underestimating the opponent. 

- I remember playing against the Latvian coach at the EURO in Portugal and I can be sure that he prepared his team well physically. We should take advantage of the potential tactical shortcoming on his team to be dominant when it comes to possession. We hope to win because that would put us in a situation that would be difficult to ruin - Rosicky said. Coach Vrba has some defense problems since he can't count on Kaderabek and Raktoral, while left back Limbersky remains questionable. He will most likely play regardless of the injury. Forward Sivok is injured as well and don't play.

- Limbersky had some problems with a muscle but I think he'll be ready to play. This game is far too important and we need to do our best to get three points. We didn't play badly so far but I believe it can get even better. Every coach needs at least 6 months to get the full picture and be one with the team. We have done that more than successfully and now have to work on the next steps - the Czech coach Pavel Vrba said. His team didn't record a single win in preparation games to open the qualification period with a win over the Netherlands. The Czech winning run is still going on even though this team has no great stars or top-level players. 

Latvia were playing more or less in accordance with their quality so far. Some might have expected more but this position they are in right now is their reality. Since they are set to meet the top table team today, the situation is not very likely to improve. They prepared for this game in Nurnberg since stadiums in Latvia aren't good enough for the national team at this point.

- The Czech have built a team capable of great things after a long time. I had enough time to analyze their games in the last few months and what strikes me most if the fact they have brought the pace up a lot. Tomas Rosicky fascinates me the most as he remains their leader after all this time. It won't be easy for us, but we need to focused, confident and believe we can do something - visiting coach Pahars said.

All the top Latvian players are at his disposal right now, except for CSKA's forward Cauna and HSV's forward Rudnevs. The latter missing this game was the number one topic with the Latvian fans and the media. One of the explanations for his absence was his attempt to help Hamburg, who are struggling to avoid relegation and want to bring the risk of injuries to a minimum. Pahars said:

- Only players who are capable of doing their best are here. When I spoke with Rudnevs, he told me he is not capable of doing his best for personal reason and that's all there is to it as far as I'm concerned.

The players believe they can do better than in the last qualifier with the Netherlands, when the Dutch used them to get rid of all the accumulated frustration. Midfielder Sinelnikovs said:

- We were steamrolled in Amsterdam but I don't think that will happen against the Czechs. I'm sure we won't be defending the whole game and that will we have our chances. We need to use those chances since we can win only in that case - if we do our absolute best.