Nedved and the nearly men: Why have the Czech Republic failed to kick on from their golden generation?

Eight years later, the hurt of Oliver Bierhoff’s equaliser and his subsequent golden goal have faded. The Czech Republic are in the semi-finals of Euro 2004, having beaten Germany, the Netherlands and Latvia in the group stage, and thumped Denmark in the quarters, with Milan Baroš scoring twice to take his tournament tally to five.

Ranked number four in the world, they face unfancied Greece in Porto in the last four.

They give the limited Greece side a roasting. Tomáš Rosický and big Jan Koller both hit the bar. But Greece dig in, Czech talisman Pavel Nedvěd limps off at half time. Rosický misses a good late chance, it goes to injury time. The Greeks win it from a set piece on the silver goal rule.

That, plus reaching number two in the Fifa rankings the following year, is the high water mark for Czech football. On Friday, they face England and are ranked 44 in the world. It has been quite the decline.

The periods between those two runs deep into European Championships represented a mini golden age: talented, likeable players from a young country that seemed set to become a regular continental force.

Why did it not come to pass?

James Stafford, a Prague-based sportswriter, said: “Before 1989 and the Velvet Revolution, the centralised structure of Czech sport helped to produce technically sound players who played within a shared system and style. Deep links with universities helped with sports science and coaching. There were strong team ethics.”

The collapse of the old political order at the end of the eighties brought an end to this. A funding gap was created for elite sport and money did not immediately flow in. And in football, talent flowed out.

Back at Euro 1996, fully 15 of the Czech squad earned their living in the Czech league. By 2004, only five did. The superb crop of Petr Čech, Poborský, Rosický, Nedvěd and Baroš et al represented clubs at, or with pretensions to be at, Europe’s top table: Liverpool, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Monaco, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Ajax.

Having starters at major European teams is one thing: warming the bench or playing second tier is another.

“Many young Czech players now leave in their teens for big money abroad and far too often become squad filler,” said Stafford. “They fail to get much game time and the knock on effect is stunted development. In an earlier era they would have grown within what was then a stronger domestic game.”

Today, only a third of the squad to play England are based back home. The gifted left-sided striker Patrik Schick, at Roma, is the player nearest the European big-time. More typical is Tomáš Kalas, who is nominally a Chelsea player but has featured for them in all of two games since his 2010 signing. He told a Czech chat show: “I am a player for training sessions. If they need a cone they put me there instead.” He now plays on loan at Bristol City.

Veteran Daniel Pudil of Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall’s Jiří Skalák have featured recently. Matěj Vydra, who has plundered two goals in 19 appearances for Burnley this season, plays up front. Other players are at lesser Bundesliga, Ligue 1 or Turkish sides. The days of Nedvěd feel a long time ago.

The country’s favourite footballing son was philosophical about the not-quite glory days. “We went very close but we didn’t win anything,” said Nedvěd. “That team was from a very strong generation of players and I would like us to go back to that level.”

If wishing made it so. Czech football has to undo a decade and more of decline and failing infrastructure.

 "There was a flawed transition from the generation of Nedvěd and Čech,” said Czech football writer Jiri Hosek. “Around 2004 you could see the core of the starting line up was strong, but there was nothing coming through behind it. There was no development of leaders to come in, and too many mistakes were made in selecting players based on past form."

As to the future, experts agree the centralised structure that worked well for the Czechs in the 1980s and proved an inspiration for the Belgian and German renaissances must be reintroduced.

And they have the ideal national treasure to head it up. Nedvěd said: “When I stop being part of Juventus I will do something in the Czech Republic because I owe the Czech Republic.

“I am already in contact with people there, talking to them about how football is played,” he said. “I want to go back and give a helping hand to make sure that the Czech Republic as a team can become great again."

A decent showing at Wembley tonight, the scene of their agonisingly close brush with Euro immortality, will be a solid start.