Home SPORTS Arsenal’s Cech retires from international football

Arsenal’s Cech retires from international football

318
0

Arsenal and Czech Republic goalkeeper, Petr Cech, has announced his retirement from international football.The Czech Republic’s most-capped player made the announcement in Prague on Friday, as he collected the national team’s player of the year award.

He retires with 124 caps, the last of them won in a 2-0 defeat to Turkey as the Czechs were eliminated from Euro 2016 with just one point from three group games.

Speaking to the Arsenal website he said: “This is a purely football-based decision. If I want to prolong my career and play at the highest level for as long as I can, then I will probably need to find the balance so that I can continue to do so.

READ ALSO  Chelsea's Bank accounts frozen, following sanctions of Abramovich

“I’m now 34 and the next [international] tournament is in two years which, in football, is a very long time. The last thing I wanted to do was start a campaign and then say ‘I don’t think it’s right for me to continue’ halfway through it.

“I’ve made fantastic memories and I will keep them. But as I said, you cannot stop time and sometimes you need to make decisions looking to the future. I believe it is the right move.”

Cech left Chelsea for Arsenal in a £10m deal last summer and won the Premier League’s Golden Glove award in his first season at the Emirates thanks to 16 clean sheets in 34 appearances.

READ ALSO  United held in 6th, Liverpool whip Arsenal to go third

The 34-year-old told Sky Sports News HQ this week he wants silverware in his second year at the club.

“There were a lot of positives from our last campaign,” he said, “but obviously we would like to carry that on and improve for the next season because we finished empty-handed and that is not what we wanted. “

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.