Tomas Soucek stripped of Czech captaincy after ignoring fans

James Cox

There is some unrest in the camp of Ireland's World Cup playoff opponents, the Czech Republic, with West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek being stripped of the captaincy.

After their 6-0 victory over Gibraltar, Soucek and his teammates ignored fans. The team was also denied its financial bonus for the payment as a punishment. 

"The fans have a full right to express their disagreement with the unsatisfactory performance in the recent games," the nation's football association said in a statement. "The reaction of the players should have been quite the contrary. They should have thanked the active fans."

Ireland face a tough task in the March 26th playoff semi-final in Prague.

The Czechs are 44th in the Fifa World rankings, while Ireland sit at 59th.

A football stats predictor recently gave Ireland an 8.4 per cent chance of World Cup qualification.

The reward for a win over the Czech Republic will be a home playoff final agianst either Denmark or North Macedonia.