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Current AffairsFootball legend Panenka says Czechs can go far if they advance from group at Euro 2004
The Czech Republic has been gripped by football fever ahead of Euro 2004,
which gets underway in Portugal on Saturday. The only time the Czechs - or
rather Czechoslovakia - won the European Championships was in 1976, when
Antonin Panenka's famous chipped penalty entered football lore. Czech
football fans have high hopes their team will do well in Portugal - but
how does the great Antonin Panenka rate their chances?
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Letter from PragueThe Czech Republic's footballers - unofficial ambassadors to the EU!
You may recall that Radio Prague ran a competition earlier this year in
which we asked who you considered the most interesting Czech, living or
dead. Someone from our Russia section told me something interesting: they
got a few letters in which people chose the Czech football captain, Pavel
Nedved. As almost every single player on the Czech national team plays
abroad, it occurred to me that many people's only connection with the
Czech Republic might be that their favourite team features a Czech player,
be it Petr Cech at French club Rennes, or Patrik Berger at Portsmouth.
Indeed when Vladimir Smicer joined Liverpool - Berger's old club - the
fans had a song which went "he's Czech, he's great, he's Patrik
Berger's mate".
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