Smicer out of Czech World Cup squad

Former Liverpool midfielder Vladimir Smicer has admitted defeat in his battle to make the World Cup.

The 33-year-old’s hamstring injury has been improving only slowly and today he conceded he would not be fit for the first World Cup finals the Czechs have reached since splitting with Slovakia.

Czech coach Karel Bruckner has not yet submitted a replacement for Smicer but he has Libor Sionko training with the squad while Sparta Prague midfielder Tomas Sivok is also on stand-by.

Smicer said: “I sat down with the doctors in the morning and we reached this decision.

“I could not leave the coach, team-mates and myself in tension. There are only 10 days to the first match and I cannot train properly.

“I shed some tears,” he admitted. “I felt awful after the elimination by Greece in (the semi-finals of) Euro 2004, but I have never cried because of football before.”