Robert Sanchez and Ben White aren’t the only former Albion under-23s hoping for some minutes at Euro 2020.

A third member of that ‘club’ is getting ready just in case as he spends the weekend in Budapest.

He would love his nation to cause a surprise, helped by the next best thing to home advantage.

And a few minutes on the pitch would top that off nicely.

Ales Mateju, 25, is competing for a place in the 23-man Czech Republic matchday squad to face Joel Veltman and Holland tomorrow.

The right-back from Pribram joined Albion in the summer of 2017, on that buzzing early August weekend when both Pride and Atletico Madrid were in town and excitement was mounting ahead of the Premier League kick-off versus Manchester City.

He went on to be a regular in Premier League 2 that season and, like Sanchez, Steven Alzate and Aaron Connolly, was in the team which secured promotion by winning a play-off final at Aston Villa.

Mateju never really challenged Bruno or Ezequiel Schelotto for the senior spot but found a niche on loan at Brescia the following season, helping them win the Serie B title.

He played 31 times in Serie A, suffering relegation, after making the move more permanent and last term helped Brescia push unsuccessfully for the play-offs.

Since leaving the Seagulls for a reported £1.6 million, he has earned four senior caps.

All were in 2020, two in friendlies and two in the UEFA Nations League.

He did not make the 23 for the Czechs’ first two games at the current tournament but, like White, was among the unused subs for the game at Wembley last Tuesday.

The Czechs have now returned to Central Europe and Mateju hopes that can help them upset the odds.

He said: “It’s great, of course. After a very long time, it can be played in front of the fans.

“It will be a full house so everyone is looking forward to it and especially for Czech fans it can be great.

“It is definitely closer to the fans from the Czech Republic (than from the Netherlands).

“I believe that we could have more fans there and the environment could be better for us.”

Albion fans have been disappointed by the lack of minutes in orange for Veltman so far.

He was only called upon very late versus Ukraine when his team were defending a 3-2 lead having earlier thrown away a 2-0 advantage.

There has been no need for such extra defensive insurance since then with the Dutch looking strong.

Mateju said: “I might consider the Dutch team to be one of the favourites of the tournament.

“But there are a lot of big teams there, for example Italy.

“Holland have a lot of great individuals. They are strong one on one, their technical maturity is great.

“They are very strong on both sides of the team. But it’s just like that in these big teams.”

Mateju’s two senior appearances for Albion both came in the League Cup.

He went on at half-time in the 1-0 second-round win over Barnet, joining compatriot Jiri Skalak in the action.

Then he was thrown on in place of Liam Rosenior as one of four changes by Chris Hughton during the second period of extra-time when the Seagulls lost 1-0 at Bournemouth at the next stage.

Similar late involvement might be his best hope of action tomorrow.

Bizarrely he is one of THREE right-backs with Albion connections who could play this weekend.

Admittedly that is a bit of a stretch, written rather tongue-in-cheek.

But Leandro Trossard was employed as right wing-back by Belgium in their final group game against Finland.

He is more likely to be back on the bench as the Belgians take on Portugal in perhaps the tie of the round.

But there will be every reason to be ready with Red Devils boss Roberto Martinez wary of soaring temperatures in the southern Spanish footballing hotbed.

Former Spain boss Javier Clemente has criticised the choice of Seville as back-up option when first-choice Bilbao was unable to accommodate spectators.

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Clemente has said he would have preferred a more temperate northern venue such as Vigo, in often wet and windy Galicia.

There was also widespread criticism of the playing surface at La Cartuja during the group stage, all of which suggests a challenging evening for Trossard.

Again, that is IF he gets on.

THE LAST-16 TIES

TODAY

5pm: Wales v Denmark (Amsterdam, BBC).

8pm: Italy v Austria (Wembley, BBC).

SUNDAY

5pm: Netherlands v Czech Republic (Budapest, ITV).

8pm: Belgium v Portugal (Seville, ITV).

MONDAY

5pm : Croatia v Spain (Copenhagen, ITV).

8pm: France v Switzerland (Bucharest, ITV).

TUESDAY

5pm: England v Germany (Wembley, BBC).

8pm: Sweden v Ukraine (Hampden Park, BBC).