Three West Ham players will take to the Wembley pitch this evening but only one of them, Declan Rice, will be in England colours.
The other two, of course, are Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal and they will be aiming to upset many of the West Ham fan base and repeat their 2019 success over England.
Soucek is well aware that he will have little support from Hammers tonight but is looking forward to facing his midfield partner Rice.
"It will feel strange being on the opposite side to West Ham United fans and them wanting me to lose," Soucek told The Times.
"I’ve heard and read them saying, “We really love you and Vlad [Vladimir Coufal] but please don’t beat England and please don’t be injured. I just smile, it is funny. We hope people support us. We hope it will be a fair game and show our quality. I understand they might suffer with England but hope after the game they will still love us, whatever the result.
"England will be a big game for me, playing here. It will be really tough for us. It will be a little strange but I hope we do well. I look forward to playing in front of fans at Wembley and hope we can both go through."
Soucek's wish that both teams will qualify was granted after results in Groups A, B and C confirmed that England and Czech Republic will progress to the last 16 no matter the score at Wembley.
Meanwhile, The 25-year-old's down to earth persona has endeared him to West Ham supporters and earned him a nickname in the Hammers dressing room.
"I mentioned earlier this season that I would usually take three weeks off at Christmas and mainly eat potato salad," he said. "The guys found it funny and Declan tweeted, “How can you not love him? People now call us, ‘Rice and Potato Salad’.”
"We have a close bond. It will be special to see Declan, my midfield partner. We might speak before and after the game and say something for motivation. During the game it will be like a fight between us."
Due to their exceptional partnership, Soucek and Rice know each others game almost as well as their own and the Czech star believes this will make the competition in midfield even tougher.
"We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and that will make it hard," he added. "I don’t like this type of situation. But I want to concentrate on my performance for the team, rather than Declan.
"I came up against him before I joined West Ham in the qualifying campaign in October 2019. I’ve reminded him that “Czech beat England 2-1 and I hope we can do it again”."
Soucek is taking inspiration from training with Englishmen on a daily basis at West Ham and is keen to have bragging rights on his return to the Hammers next season.
"Declan is among the many English guys in training — including Stuart Pearce [the first-team coach], who is very competitive — and that is one of the motivations for me to take my West Ham form into the match," he said.
The Czech Republic already have qualification sewn up thanks to four points from their opening two games with the West Ham duo key to their progression.
If Soucek and Coufal are brave enough they will even be able to remind their manager and former Scotland international David Moyes they both provided Patrick Schick with assists during the 2-0 win over the Scots at Hampden Park.
"David Moyes, our manager, said that he will support Scotland," Soucek said. "I replied, “It’s a bad choice because we will beat you”. I will have a laugh with the manager soon."
