Darida in Czech squad to cover for Rosicky injury

PRAGUE (AP) — Vladimir Darida was included in the Czech Republic squad for the European Championship on Tuesday to act as midfield cover because captain Tomas Rosicky has a calf muscle injury.

Rosicky is still likely to recover in time to play in the June 8 to July 1 tournament in Poland and Ukraine, but coach Michal Bilek decided to play it safe and have more options in the midfield.

"Tomas Rosicky's condition has been a complication for us," Bilek said when announcing his final 23-man squad.

Rosicky was injured in Arsenal's last English Premier League match on May 13 and has not fully trained since.

He partially trained alongside the rest of the squad on Tuesday with ball-work exercises, but it is unclear when he might be ready to fully train.

"There's no exact day set for me to return," Rosicky said.

He was unable to play a Euro 2012 warm-up match against Israel on Saturday and will likely miss another friendly against Hungary on Friday.

Bilek said Rosicky's presence in that match is not necessary.

"For us, it's more important he's fit to play against Russia," Bilek said of the team's opening Euro 2012 match on June 8.

The Czechs also face Greece and co-host Poland in Group A.

Rosicky's absence at the tournament would be a huge blow for the team. He missed Euro 2008 because of injury, and the Czechs subsequently collapsed in the final group stage match against Turkey and were eliminated.

Rosicky tried to play down the seriousness of his problem.

"It's getting better day by day," he said. "I'm on the right track."

Rosicky, who was rewarded for his impressive recent form for Arsenal with a new contract, is happy to rest after the hectic finish in the Premier League.

"A break doesn't harm me," he said.

The 21-year-old Darida first played for the national team in the 2-1 win over Israel on Saturday, coming on as a substitute in the 65th minute and impressing Bilek and Rosicky.

"He's a promising talent for Czech football," Rosicky said.

Bilek has dropped Cesena defender Daniel Pudil from his 23-man squad.

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Squad:

Goalkeepers: Petr Cech (Chelsea), Jaroslav Drobny (Hamburg), Jan Lastuvka (Dnipropetrovsk).

Defenders: Theodor Gebre Selassie (Liberec), Roman Hubnik (Hertha Berlin), Michal Kadlec (Bayer Leverkusen), David Limbersky (Viktoria Plzen), Frantisek Rajtoral (Viktoria Plzen), Tomas Sivok (Besiktas), Marek Suchy (Spartak Moscow).

Midfielders: Vladimir Darida (Plzen), Tomas Hubschman (Shakhtar Donetsk), Petr Jiracek (Wolfsburg), Daniel Kolar (Viktoria Plzen), Milan Petrzela (Viktoria Plzen), Vaclav Pilar (Viktoria Plzen), Jaroslav Plasil (Bordeaux), Jan Rezek (Anorthosis Famagusta), Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal).

Strikers: Milan Baros (Galatasaray), David Lafata (Jablonec), Tomas Necid (CSKA Moscow), Tomas Pekhart (Nuremberg).