No yellow peril for Jankulovski

Marek Jankulovski insists he will not shrink from the battle when he and his Czech team-mates face Greece in tonight’s Euro 2004 semi-final – even though a yellow card would rule him out of Sunday’s decider.

Jankulovski, one of the outstanding players in an excellent team, is one of three Czech players walking the disciplinary tightrope in the knowledge that just one more false step will see them fall before Sunday’s showdown at the Estadio da Luz.

However, the left back believes he and fellow offenders Pavel Nedved and Tomas Ujfalusi will not moderate their games in an attempt to avoid the beady eyes of Italian official Pierluigi Collina.

Jankulovski, who plays his club football in Serie A with Udinese, said: “I don’t think we will moderate our games. We will be fully concentrated on our games and it is impossible to worry about other things like that.”

However, the defender admitted he was glad the game was being refereed by Collina who is considered the best whistle-blower on the planet and handled the 2002 World Cup final amongst many other high-profile and highly-charged encounters.

“I have crossed his (Collina’s) path several times in my four years playing in Serie A,” said Jankulovski, who has also played top-flight football with Napoli. “He is undoubtedly one of the best referees in the world and is greatly respected by the players.”

The Czechs had sought to have Nedved’s yellow card in the 3-0 quarter-final win over Denmark rescinded but the plea fell on deaf ears with UEFA insisting it could only act if Russian referee Valentin Ivanov had misidentified the player - unlikely given that Nedved is European footballer of the year and has a mop of blonde hair that makes him one of the most recognisable players in the tournament.

Czech coach Karel Bruckner was rueful about that decision, saying: “It is very cruel when some yellow cards are given in a not very fair manner.”

Nedved has already experienced heartache when he inspired Juventus to a 3-1 win over Real Madrid in the 2002-3 Champions League semi-finals only to be booked for a foul on Steve McManaman and miss the final with AC Milan in Manchester.

His histrionic reaction to that caution earned him the “golden tapir” – a trophy shaped in the form of the ugly south American animal of that name – by a satirical TV show for the person in Italian life considered to have made the biggest fool of himself during the week.

The Ballon d’Or was a more satisfactory trophy for Nedved when he was voted Europe’s top player for 2003 although he accepted the golden tapir in much better heart than he had taken his yellow card.

Jankulovski insists the Czechs, seen by many as favourites, are not yet thinking about Sunday’s decider at the home of Benfica.

“I would say the Greeks are very good in defence but they have also shown some skill in attack too and we will have to be attentive to both departments,” he said, refusing to single out individuals.

“Of course any national team has key players but we have to pay attention not only to them but the rest of their players as well.”

The Czechs go into the ‘dragon’s lair’ with the only 100% record in the tournament, having won all four games they have played – no mean feat since they were drawn in the competition’s ‘Group of Death’ and fielded a second-string team for the 2-1 win over Germany.

They also have the competition’s leading goalscorer in Milan Baros who has scored five goals in four matches while Karel Poborsky is top of the assists table with four scoring passes (two to Baros, one to Jan Koller and one to Vladimir Smicer).

Poborsky will win his 99th cap against the Greeks and would become the first player to clock up a century with the Czechs if he were to play also in Sunday’s final – no-one achieved that feat even in the days of the old Czechoslovakia. Central defender Rene Bolf is fit to face the Greeks but there is still a major doubt over Martin Jiranek who will probably be replaced by Zdenek Grygera in the right-back slot.

The Czechs were runners-up in Euro 96 to Germany at Wembley although – before splitting with Slovakia – they were crowned champions in 1976 under the tutelage of Slovakian coach Doctor Josef Venglos, who later managed Aston Villa and Celtic.