GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MARCH 08: Celtic's Tomas Cvancara celebrates scoring the winning penalty in the shoot-out during a Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Quarter-Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Stadium, on March 08, 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Tomas Cvancara has been caught up in a bizarre club v country row. Celtic v Czech Republic!
So bizarre that it involves the club that he isn’t directly employed by.
It is a tried and tested issue in the football news industry to ask players about their international prospects.
And almost always the player will state that their focus is firmly on their club performances. Often with the rider that if you do well for your club international recognition would follow.
Cvancara wasn’t the victim of a sting.
THE CELTIC TV INTERVIEW
He was speaking to Celtic TV, fairly tame stuff but it seems to have been taken to heart by Czech international boss Miroslav Koubek.
Next week the Czech’s face Ireland in a World Cup play-off.
The natural line of questioning involves a possible clash with Liam Scales.
Cvancara has nine international caps, he last played for the Czech Republic in October 2024.
When his tame Celtic TV comments were used by Koubek to justify his exclusion the players agent, David Nehoda jumped into action.
The Sun reports Nehoda saying:
The justification for the absence of Tomas Cvancara from the nomination for the Czech national team is entirely misleading and completely taken out of the context of the entire interview on Celtic TV from five weeks ago.
No-one from the national team management is or has been in contact with Tomas.
Drawing information about the player and his current situation in the club solely from the media strikes me as very strange.
Was Tomas supposed to tell the fans that after three games for Celtic, the national team is a priority for him?
Cvancara has scored just two goals for Celtic but that stat doesn’t explain the fuller picture.
His second goal was a penalty that put Celtic in front of Motherwell, cutting the gap with Hearts down to two points.
The week previously he scored the decisive shoot-out penalty as Celtic won at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup. The sort of moment that becomes iconic.
Rather than go through one or possibly two dramatic internationals, Cvancara will rest and get training sessions in between Celtic’s visits to Tannadice and Dens Park.
With his club career far from secure Cvancara has the remainder of this season to prove a case to Celtic or Borusia Monchengladbach.
As ever, international prospects are wholly dependent on club success.
Thank fu*k at least one ain’t on rancid international duty then !