The Czech squad have collectively been fined a million crowns over a
party at the team's Prague base following Saturday's 2-1 loss to Germany.
According to a report in the Czech tabloid Sip, the squad got drunk and,
in the early hours of the morning, five players -- Tomas Rosicky, Tomas
Ujfalusi, Jan Polak, Martin Jiranek and Marek Cech -- were visited at
Hotel Praha by six prostitutes.
The players involved have apologized for behaving inappropriately. They
deny, however, that women visited their rooms and say that they were
holding an enquiry into Saturday's game at the get-together.
National team coach Karel Bruckner told reporters yesterday that he
considered resigning when he learned of Saturday night's events.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, an obviously dismayed Bruckner
said that whatever the truth about the party was, it was difficult to
forgive. Throughout his long coaching career, he said, he had never
known such a serious breach of discipline.
"It's big trouble," he added, and announced that the Czech squad would
no longer use Hotel Praha in the future. Further steps would be
considered after tomorrow's Cyprus game.
Bruckner apparently only learned about Saturday night's events on Monday
morning, from the head of the CMFS (Czech football association)
International Section, Jaroslav Dudl.
The Hotel Praha prostitute scandal dominates the Czech papers today, and
few commentators believe the national team's version of events.
Sip, which first broke the story, maintains that there were prostitutes
in rooms, and accuses the players involved of lying to cover it up.
Several papers argue that fining such well-paid players a million crowns
is laughable. Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) points out that Tomas Rosicky's
50,000-crown share of the penalty is equivalent to three hours' pay for
the Arsenal midfielder.
Hospodarske noviny points out that this isn't the first time a Czech
national team has held a wild party, but suspects that in the past they
were hushed up by the team's leadership. "The punishment wasn't because
something happened but because it became public," it writes.
Sport believes that team captain Tomas Rosicky isn't the only man
accountable for this breach of discipline, and that coach Karel Bruckner
and national team manager Vlastimil Kostal must also take
responsibility. "Manager Kostal should name the main culprit and should
send him home or drop him from the national team," it writes.
MfD describes Bruckner as a broken man whose players have betrayed him
and speculates that Wednesday's game against Cyprus might be his last as
national team coach.
