Czech Republic will lock horns with Russia in an international friendly at the Tivoli Stadion in Austria on Wednesday. Czech Republic have already played a pre-Euro warmup match, while Russia are yet to play any so far. Their encounter against Czech Republic will be their first of the friendlies ahead of their Euro 2016 campaign.
Czech Republic thrashed Malta 6-0 in their first friendly game last Thursday and with that win, they must have gathered a lot of confidence ahead of their match against Russia. Not to forget, this was their first win after three straight defeats in three friendly matches.
Czech Republic will look to register a win over Russia as well and give their morale a further boost before they kickstart their Euro 2016 campaign. They have been pitted in a very difficult group in which they will have to battle it out with the likes of Spain, Turkey and Croatia to make it to the next round.
So, there is no room for error when Euro 2016 begins, and Czech Republic coach Pavel Vrba will want his players to rise to the occasion.
Czech Republic announced their final 23-man squad for the European Championship on Tuesday. Petr Cech and Tomas Rosicky are the pick of the players in that side.
Meanwhile, Russia were consistent during their qualifying campaign for Euro 2016. They will have to be consistent in order to yield positive results in Euro 2016 as well as in tonight's clash against Czech Republic.
Russia have played twice against Czech Republic prior to this match, and they remain undefeated.
Ever since Leonid Slutsky replaced Fabio Capello as the coach of the Russian national football team, they have been doing well. But that will not be enough during Euro 2016. They will have to put in a lot more effort than they usually do in order to pick up the trophy.
A lot will depend on FC Zenit Saint Petersburg forward Alexandr Kokorin. He will have to find his goalscoring form as soon as possible to give his side the edge over the teams in their group.
Russia will also have to deal with tough opponents like England, Wales and Slovakia in Group B of Euro 2016.
Where to watch live:
The international friendly - Czech Republic vs Russia is scheduled for a 6:00 p.m. local time (9:30 p.m. IST, 5 p.m. BST and 12:00 p.m. EST) start.
Unfortunately, there will be no live coverage of this game in India and UK.
Audience in US can watch Czech Republic vs Russia live on ESPN3 and stream the same on Watch ESPN.
Fans in Russia can watch Czech Republic vs Russia live on Channel One.
