West Ham coach Stuart Pearce is delighted at the progress Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal have made at Euro 2020 and will be cheering them on against Denmark.
The Czech Republic were shock 2-0 winners over the Netherlands in the last-16 of the tournament and have been rewarded with a clash against the Danes in Baku.
Pearce told football.london that he fancies Denmark to run out winners in the clash but hopes the two West Ham players can continue their run in the tournament.
"I would probably err slightly on the side of Denmark but I don't think there's much in it to be fair and as we saw with the Czech game [against the Netherlands], I think they will give anyone a tough game whoever they play," Pearce said.
"I think there is a real level of consistency about what they do, they might not have household names in their ranks but they've got a real collective strength."
Pearce highlighted the motivation Denmark have to progress in the tournament following the harrowing collapse of Christian Eriksson in the Danes opening match against Finland.
"Denmark have got something to fight for," he said. "To lose the first two games and arguably your best player and still arrive where they are in the tournament it takes some doing."
Despite having Denmark as slight favourites Pearce believes Soucek, Coufal and the Czech's have performed admirably.
"They have done really well to be fair, a couple of genuine lads and the Czech side will give anybody a game," he added.
"I will follow them, they're great kids and I want to see the Czechs go as far as they possibly can for the sake of those two because they're an absolute joy to work with."
Pearce stressed his pleasure at seeing the two West Ham players thriving at the tournament.
"I'm delighted on a personal front, obviously [they are] both performing at West Ham fantastically well and more importantly they are two really top lads," the former England captain said.
"They are great professionals, great people, they play all the games, they're low maintenance footballers, they're a credit to themselves and their profession. So I'm delighted that they're doing well with their national team."
Pearce's happiness for the duo only dimmed when conversation turned to the Czech's clash with England in the group stages of the tournament, a game he was thrilled to see them defeated 1-0 in.
"In the build-up to the tournament, when they were with us at West Ham, there was a lot of to and fro in regard to what we expected of them at Wembley," he said. "I did tell them, they would be getting beaten at Wembley and everything seems to be going to plan at this moment in time."
If both England and Czech Republic win their respective quarter-finals a second clash between the pair would take place, once again at Wembley, a match Pearce said would be a 'pleasure' to watch... as long as England triumph that is.
Stuart Pearce is working with Weetabix, the official breakfast cereal of the England national team who has partnered with the UK Nation’s Football Associations to bring the nation a summer filled with fab football prizes. The ‘WIN WITH WEETABIX’ promotion runs from 4th May – 1st October 2021. Find out more here: http://www.winwithweetabix.co.uk/
