Hložek called up to Czech national team

Eighteen-year-old Sparta Prague forward Adam Hložek has received his first call-up for the Czech national football squad ahead of two games in a new edition of the Nations League.

Due to the coronavirus crisis, the Czech national team has not started this year and last presented itself last November at the end of a successful qualification. It advanced to the European Championships. Following the pandemic outbreak, the US matches with Mexico and Honduras in March were canceled, as well as the June program, including the Euro, which was postponed to next summer.

The Czech team will play the first match of this year on September 4 in Bratislava, Scotland will be hosted three days later in Olomouc. Games will be played without spectators due to coronavirus. In the group of the League of Nations, the representatives also have Israel.

The offensive universal Hložek, who was 18 months ago, is one of Sparta’s mainstays, despite his young age. He has already passed the national team of twenty-one, and stable performances have earned him the premiere invitation to the national A-team. He is the only newcomer in the current selection of coach Šilhavý.

If Hložek starts in September, he will become the youngest player in the national team’s history. The current record is held by Jan Polák, who jumped at the age of 18, one month and 14 days. Hložek will be one day less during the match with Scotland. “Adam can play on the edges of the offensive phase, and now he plays on the tip of the attack. So he will play a role where it is needed,” said Šilhavý.

Dočkal last played for the national team last November. He then struggled with a lingering injury and returned to the lawns in a Sparta jersey in the spring. This weekend in the opening round of the league season in Brno, the 31-year-old midfielder scored two goals. Šilhavý still counts on him as a captain.

So far, the only center-forward striker Patrik Schick is in the selection, and Šilhavý will call two more offensive players later. Substitutes include Milan Škoda, Michael Krmenčík, Libor Kozák, Zdeněk Ondrášek, Matěj Vydra, and Stanislav Tecl, who gave Slavia a hat-trick in the opening league round.

The League of Nations is in its second year. The competition replaces previous matches, gives national teams an additional chance to fight for participation in major tournaments.

As before, the Czech team will present itself in League B, the second of four performance levels. But two years ago, he played with only two opponents instead of the current three. In the first edition, the Czech team also faced Slovakia, with which they won twice – first outside in the premiere under Šilhavý 2: 1 and then at home 1: 0.