Czech U18 team will play a tournament in Porto Rico
Czech U18 national team will play at the academy tournament in Porto Rico on Saturday at 17:00 CET. They will get a chance against the opponents from all around the world.
Czech team will be led by a coaching duo Filip Prochádzka, but also Petr Čech, who will eventually move to U23 team. „It is a preparation for U18 European Championship, which will be played this year in Regensburg, Germany. So the team was put together by Filip Prochádzka. We are going there to get some play time, mainly. We should also get five players who are in the United States,“ said Petr Čech, who took U18 team to the 9th place in the World Cup in the previous year, in the press release. This equaled the best Czech finish in the World cup in this category.
However, Czechs don’t aim for the best finish at the tournament in Porto Rico. „We want for the pitcher to throw some innings, because they haven’t played this year and some will play outside for the first time. So we want to rotate them quickly,“ the head coach explains the main goal of the team. „So we can’t say that I will let someone stew for five innings, to win the game. It’s about getting some innings for everyone, to get a hold of it and to put out the best performance. Then, of course, we will see.“
Czech will play in Group A, where they face Mexico, Australia, Japan, and the host from Porto Rico. The second group will see Canada, Aruba, Dominican Republic, Germany, and IMG-Academy from the USA. The first two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals, while the rest will play in the placement group.
Based on the information, it should be possible to watch all the games on YouTube.
