Czechs and Ireland chase Group A supremacy

The action resumes in UEFA European Under-19 Championship Group A with the Czech Republic and the Republic of Ireland looking to take a significant stride towards the semi-finals and Romania and Greece aiming to bounce back from opening day losses.

Czech coach Jaroslav Hřebík revealed that his side – who opened their challenge with a 3-1 win over host nation Romania on Wednesday – will not be altering their style to face an Ireland side on whom the coach is thoroughly briefed. "We have a lot of material about Ireland and we'll make sure we're well prepared for them," the former SK Slavia Praha and AC Sparta Praha coach said. "We want more of the same, to be strong in attack and to press hard. These are our usual methods and we don't see any reason to change them."

His Ireland counterpart Paul Doolin explained that the quality available within his squad is comforting, especially as they prepared for an encounter against what he described as "a strong footballing nation".

"The Czechs qualified for this year's European U17 Championship and they were also represented at the U21 finals in Denmark. Now they have a team here; they have a good history in the game," the Dubliner explained. "Our guys are obviously happy after [the 2-1 win against Greece] but now we must make sure we are ready for the Czechs," he continued. "We have a good squad; it's not just about the starting XI from the Greece match, we also have players who can come in at any time."

The atmosphere at the Stadionul Berceni is certain to be electric as hosts Romania look to get their campaign up and running against a Greece side who also have ambitions of reaching the last four. "It's important to pick ourselves up psychologically," said coach Lucian Burchel, whose side took the lead against the Czechs only to subsequently concede three times. "Greece will be a different test for us; they have another style of play. We can do a lot better than we previously showed but my principal concern is that we play to our best; after that we'll see about the result."

Greece coach Leonidas Vokolos, meanwhile, made it clear that victory is utmost in the minds of his players, who will be giving their all in search of their first points of the finals. "Romania are the hosts so it will be difficult but I believe in my team and in the next two games we will do our best. I hope to win; in fact, if we want to progress, we must do just that."