Mareš brothers still starring for Czechs

The Czech Republic may no longer be able to reach the UEFA European Futsal Championship semi-finals but two familiar figures in their squad have again more than held their own.

Comebacks
Brothers Roman and Michal Mareš have been key players for the Czech Republic for many years, but retired from international football after the last finals to concentrate on their club career with Russia's MFK Dina Moskva. But they then returned home and this year made their national team comebacks, aiding their impressive qualificaiton campaign and taking their place in the finals in Porto.

Exit
Defeats by debutants Romania and hosts Portugal have ended the Czech title bid regardless of their last Group A result against Italy on Wednesday and the younger of the siblings, Michal, reflected on their exit. "It's by no means a humiliation but the worst thing of all was to lose against Romania," he told uefa.com. "We played well [against Portugal] and we were expecting to get something from this match, but that didn't happen and now we'll try to score at least one point against Italy."

Taking a break
Michal, one year his brother's junior at 31, explained how he and Roman came to return to the squad. "We were both playing in Russia and decided to take a break from the national squad. However, we wanted to help our squad-mates and so we returned."

Telepathic understanding
The siblings have now competed in the last four European Championships, and although they are at different clubs that has not always been the case. Michal says there is a real telepathy between the pair, as was shown when he set up Roman to score in the first minute against Portugal. "We have been playing together for the last 20 years and we know exactly where the other one will be on the pitch," he explained. "It's safe to say we could each play with one eye closed as we connect perfectly."