VIENNA, June 2 (Reuters) - Czech Republic go into Euro 2008 without the main midfield ingredients that have given the team a stylish flavour at previous championships.

Captain and playmaker Tomas Rosicky will miss the trip to Austria and Switzerland through injury while their golden group, including mainstays for over a decade such as Pavel Nedved and Karel Poborsky, have retired from the international stage.

Next to the flair of a midfield that used to feature a former European Player of the Year and others who plied their trade at some of the world's top clubs, those trying to fill their shoes at this tournament are distinctly ordinary.

Coach Karel Brueckner has deemed 27-year-old Rosicky to be irreplaceable but the team are nevertheless going to have to find a way of plugging the gap.

'There is no replacement (for Rosicky),' Czech sports Web site sport.cz quoted Brueckner as saying.

The coach seems likely to adopt a more defensive approach, possibly by using a five-man defence and a lone striker.

'It seems we will play three central defenders,' he said.

He has hinted that lofty 35-year-old Jan Koller could play up front, with Milan Baros dropping back to a supporting role on the left.

'The fact that I could use him (on the left) ... is nothing unusual,' Brueckner said of Baros. 'Today nobody plays two out-and-out strikers anymore. And for Milan this role is no worse or more exacting.'

Whereas the Czechs previous regular midfielders played for big clubs like Juventus and Manchester United, the current crop turn out for less glamorous teams.

Marek Matejovksy is at Reading, who were relegated from the English Premier League last season, Libor Sionko plays for FC Copenhagen, Jan Polak is with Anderlecht and 35-year-old defensive midfielder Tomas Galasek wears Nuremberg's colours.

Nedved, Poborsky, Vladimir Smicer and Patrik Berger were regulars during a golden age for Czech players who enthralled the fans and put themselves on the best clubs' shopping lists with their Euro '96 performances.

Several of the team that reached the final in England that year were still in the side that became favourites to win the title four years ago in Portugal before a Greek 'silver goal' ended their hopes in the semi-finals.

Nedved and Poborsky were still directing the midfield at the 2006 World Cup in Germany before they decided to make way for a new generation. Media rumours of a possible comeback by Nedved in Rosicky's absence came to nothing.

Brueckner has been criticised in the media for not allowing young players to break into the team, preferring instead to stick with tried and tested but sometimes unremarkable players.

One big source of comfort while the Czechs try to resolve their midfield conundrum is that in Petr Cech they have one of the world's best goalkeepers.

Czech Republic kick off their Euro 2008 campaign against co-hosts Switzerland in the tournament opener on June 7 and are joined in Group A by Portugal and Turkey.