West Ham United’s Vladimír Coufal has told Pardubický Deník that he withdrew from the Czech Republic squad last month due to a minor injury.
The right-back missed the friendly against Hungary in September, after playing the full 90 minutes in his national team’s 1-1 draw against Albania in the European qualifiers.
According to the 31-year-old, West Ham made a decision for him to not feature in the friendly tie.
Since the last international break, the defender has made three league appearances.
The Czech Republic international has provided a positive update on his fitness and also talked about the measures he took after a minor setback.
The national team take on Albania and Faroe Islands in the European qualifiers later this month, and Pardubický Deník asked Coufal about his fitness after last month’s withdrawal.
“It was more for preventive reasons. West Ham asked for it, contacted the people from the national team. I was also in favour of doing it this way. The friendly match against Hungary was not vital for me to risk aggravating the injury,” he said.
“Therefore, right after Albania, I flew to meet a spine and back specialist who operated on, for example, golfer Tiger Woods. He figured that there was no need for any injections or anything like yet. He gave me tips on what to do. I already got better at the national team meeting because the physiotherapists took perfect care of me. And the improvement has continued recently.”
The fullback was asked about the similarities between West Ham manager David Moyes and the national team coach, Jaroslav Šilhavý.
“Šilhavý has a lot of respect. By how he approaches us, how he works or what he has achieved as a player and coach,” Coufal explained.
“I would easily compare him to David Moyes in terms of personality and respect, they are similar types. Someone can criticise him, everyone has the right to do that, but I would like to see these people show the respect he has from the players.”
