PRAGUE (Reuters) – The Czech Republic made four late changes to their squad for World Cup qualifiers against Belgium and Belarus, with key centre back Ondrej Kudela ruled out due to a knee injury, the Czech football federation said on Monday.
Kudela’s Slavia Prague team mates goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar and defender Jan Boril also miss out because of injury and Viktoria Plzen defender Jakub Brabec withdrew for personal reasons.
Striker Patrik Schick, joint top scorer at Euro 2020, misses both games due to suspension.
Kudela injured his knee on Sunday as champions Slavia dropped their first points of the season in a 3-3 draw against Karvina.
Viktoria Plzen goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek and defender Filip Kasa, and Sparta’s defender Tomas Wiesner have been called into the squad.
The other additions are Sigma Olomouc defender Vaclav Jemelka, Slovan Bratislava midfielder Jaromír Zmrhal, Slavia forward Stanislav Tecl, and Jablonec forward Martin Dolezal.
The Czechs have four points from three matches in Group E and sit second behind Belgium. They host Belarus on Sept. 2 and play Belgium away on Sept. 5.
(Reporting by Robert Muller, Editing by Michael Kahn and Ed Osmond)
