Vrba disappointed with display after Czechs crash out

Head coach Pavel Vrba felt let down by his Czech Republic side’s performance as they exited Euro 2016 following a 2-0 defeat to Turkey in Lens.

Vrba’s men came into Tuesday’s Group D meeting in Lens knowing a win would guarantee them a place in the second round.

But they went down to a goal in each half, from Burak Yilmaz and Ozan Tufan, as Turkey condemned Czech Republic to the bottom of the group while keeping their own hopes of progression alive.

And Vrba was giving little away when quizzed on his own future and that of some of his senior players.

“I have a contract but if you know anything, you tell me. There were lots of rumours in the spring but I don’t have a contract anywhere else,” he said in his post-match media conference.

“[Jaroslav] Plasil said he wants to quit but I don’t know about anyone else. Petr Cech hasn’t said anything, you would have to ask him.

“We know Turkey very well, we won once and lost once. Unfortunately we lost again. It’s not a good result for us.

“They knew it was a decisive match and that whoever scored first would be better off. We didn’t control the ball, they got a break and they scored.”

Although downbeat at the prospect of going home early, Vrba insisted there were positives to take from their campaign into World Cup qualifying.

“Of course our goal was to qualify, unfortunately we didn’t manage it, so I won’t say our performance was any good,” he said.

“On the other hand, all three matches have shown that international matches are different to the Czech league. This has been a great lesson to all our young players.

“I think for us this tournament has been a great lesson. We’ll draw on this and I think we’ll be able to use some things during the qualifiers for the World Cup.

“We wanted to get four points and qualify but we only got one. We knew this match would be decisive but we didn’t manage to do it. We thought we’d be fighting to go through with Turkey but we lost it to them, and I have to congratulate them.”