Dovalil enjoys finals 'bonus'

The UEFA European Under-17 Championship is a chance for young players to show their wares on the European stage and at 32, Czech Republic coach Jakub Dovalil is also one for the future. His team eliminated holders Turkey, 2004 champions France and Denmark in the Elite round, winning praise from, among others, UEFA Youth and Amateur Committee chairman Jim Boyce, present in Antalya as a delegate.

'Great bonus'
"The advance from a very strong group was more than we wanted, anything else is a great bonus for us," Dovalil told uefa.com. "So we will all enjoy the tournament, we will go there without any fears."

Recovery
It was particularly impressive for them to qualify, having begun the group with a 3-1 loss to France. A 1-0 win against Turkey and 2-0 triumph versus Denmark turned the tide, as France drew their last two matches. Dovalil said: "We didn't play badly even against France, we led 1-0 and if we hadn't them missed the penalty... We were twice close to elimination, but we coped with it. The side is mentally very strong and disciplined."

Squad rotation
Dovalil feels that experience, having also recovered from losing their qualifying round opener 3-1 to Sweden to win their next two games, will come in handy in Luxembourg. "I think that a well-balanced squad was the keystone of our success," he said "It's very exhausting for the youngsters to play three games in the space of five days, so we spread the task over the whole team. In contrast to our opponents we changed six of our lineup for the final game against Denmark and it paid dividends."

Spain avoided
Their Group B campaign begins in Dudelange on Wednesday against Serbia and Montenegro, with fixtures against Germany and Belgium to come. It is clearly another tough draw, but Dovalil argues: "I don't think much about it as we cannot affect the result. All sides are strong in the final tournament. Nobody can write off even Luxembourg as they played out a 1-1 draw with France. However I must honestly say I am glad that we avoided Spain as they are the biggest favourites"

Familiar rivals
He is, though, familiar with his group rivals. "They are not unknown for us as we played out a 1-1 draw against Belgium at the tournament in La Manga last month and we defeated Serbia and Montenegro 1-0 last August in Hungary," Dovalil said. "We will have enough information about Germany, too. I think that all four have similar chances of going through. I only hope we avoid injuries. I don't want to change the squad which succeeded in qualification. They all deserve to be there."