Euro 2012: Tomas Rosicky struggling to make Czechs’ quarter-final tie

Rosicky picked up the injury during Tuesday’s 2-1 win against Greece and hasn’t trained since. He was ruled out hours before Saturday’s game in Wroclaw and his place in the midfield went to Daniel Kolar. Rosicky said yesterday that he has a chance of recovering in time for the next match but “the chance is not big.”

The Czechs topped Group A ahead of Greece and now face Portugal, who finished runners-up in Group B, in Thursday’s quarter-final in Warsaw.

The Czechs clearly need Rosicky to recover to improve their chances of victory in that game.

“We all know he’s irreplaceable,” coach Michal Bilek said.

The Arsenal playmaker, known as “Little Mozart”, is no stranger to injuries. He picked up a calf muscle problem in Arsenal’s last Premier League match on May 13 and only recovered last week. He also missed Euro 2008 due to injury and the Czechs were knocked out after the group stage.

Rosicky said his team’s experience from tough qualifying games and the Euro 2012 play-offs proved decisive against Poland, who, as co-hosts, didn’t have to qualify and played only friendlies for the last two years. “We know how to handle the situation when you play for everything,” Rosicky said. “We stayed calm and it paid off. The experience from the qualifying games prevailed. The Polish team was nervous. They didn’t know what to do.”