Czech Republic’s goalkeeper Petr Cech has had some recent practice if tomorrow’s Group A decider against Turkey at the European Championship finishes in a penalty shootout.Cech could only stop one spot kick as Chelsea lost the Champions League final to Manchester United in a penalty shootout last month. Now, the Czechs and Turks play in Geneva for a quarter-final berth with the same points and goal difference, meaning it will end in spot kicks if they draw.“It’s better than a toss of a coin,” Cech said of penalties. “But I believe that penalties won’t have to take place at all and we’ll beat Turkey. I believe we belong to the best eight teams. The team’s performance is on the rise and we’ll play our best in our last game in the group stage.”The Czechs have had a positive record in penalty shootouts at previous European Championships. As part of Czechoslovakia, they won the 1976 title on penalties after drawing 2-2 with Germany, and did the same in the third-place match against Italy four years later following a 1-1 draw. At Euro 96, the Czechs eliminated France in the semi-finals in a shootout before losing the final to Germany.“We’ll be training for a possible shootout, but that’s not our major concern,” coach Karel Bruckner said. “Our goal is to play well and win.”The Czechs beat Switzerland 1-0 in their Euro 2008 opener before losing 3-1 to Portugal, while Turkey lost 2-0 to the Portuguese and then rallied to win 2-1 over the Swiss. Tomas Ujfalusi agreed that his team should defeat the Turks. “We had been fighting for two years to qualify for Euro. We just can’t go home after the group phase. I can't accept that we can’t make the quarter-finals.
