The Czech Republic have named a 32-man reserve squad for Wednesday’s trip to face Scotland at Hampden – in case their regular squad is ruled out amid coronavirus problems.
They have taken 18 players to Haifa for their Nations League match against Israel on Sunday.
Nine travelled on Saturday while nine were forced to wait until the day of the game as fresh Covid-19 checks were completed. Previous tests reported positives for three players and 16 inconclusive results.
The Czechs only have one forward in Israel, Burnley striker Matej Vydra.
They travelled to Cyprus last week for a friendly without Viktoria Plzen trio Lukas Kalvach, Jan Kopic and Zdenek Ondrasek after one of their team-mates tested positive.
The Czechs have since lost back-up goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar, Fenerbahce defender Filip Novak, Hellas Verona midfielder Antonin Barak, experienced Sparta Prague midfielder Borek Dockal and his 18-year-old team-mate Adam Hlozek.
A statement on the team’s official Twitter feed read: “The team will travel to Prague on Monday morning from Israel. All team members will have new COVID-19 test.
“We had to create the ‘reserve’ team IF we would not be allowed to play against Scotland with the ‘main’ team.
“The reserve team contains players from the Czech top tier.”
Scotland beat a second-string Czech outfit 2-1 in Olomouc last month after their opponents named an entirely new squad following a coronavirus outbreak ahead of their opening Nations League win over Slovakia.
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