Coufal to miss Czech national team's England match in Prague

Czech national team defender Vladimír Coufal will not play against England on Tuesday at Eden Stadium in Prague — coach Santi Denia left him out of the squad. Talk of the 34-year-old's absence started on Monday, when he skipped the open part of the pre-match training session.

Who replaces Coufal in defence

His place in the starting line-up will most likely go to Michal Sáček of Polish club Górnik Zabrze, who has regularly played at right-back in recent years.

Spanish coach Santi Denia called up 23 players for the match against England — the full list has been published on UEFA's website. There was no room for Coufal among the defenders: Krejčí, who previously had fitness problems, takes his spot instead. "I feel great. I'm already back in the normal training routine with the team, and now it's up to the coach. I feel good myself," Krejčí said at the pre-match press conference.

Denia makes two more changes

Compared with the squad for the Croatia match, the coach made two more changes: winger Schubert and forward Sejk, who previously came on as substitutes, will stay out of the squad this time. They are replaced by Ondřej Lingr and Daniel Vašulín.

England have their own problems

England coach Thomas Tuchel also had to make a forced change, though his task was simpler: only one player drops out of the squad — Nico O'Reilly of Manchester City. The versatile left-back trained individually after Monday's 2:3 defeat to Spain. He will be replaced by Liverpool's talented 18-year-old winger Rio Ngumoha.

When and where the match takes place

The Czech national team will face favourites England on Tuesday at 20:45 at Prague's Eden Stadium. It will be the second match of a record-long international break, with away games against Spain and a rematch with England still to come. For those matches Denia will again name a fresh list of 23 names, so Coufal and the other players left out this time may well return to the pitch yet.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz