Tomas Soucek made headlines after he ran riot over Estonia, scoring his first ever hattrick for his country in Czechia’s 6-2 romping over Estonia.
Such a feat did not go unnoticed in the West Ham squad too – with Declan Rice rushing to pour praise over his midfield partner.
Although Rice is currently away on international duty with England, his international role did not prevent him from taking to Twitter to point out the amazing feat of his teammate:
‘Partner got a hattyyyy’, exuberantly declared Rice in reference to the hattrick.
He then tagged Soucek’s official Twitter account before saying ‘congrats brother’.
Soucek started the feat in emphatic style, scoring twice before the half-time break.
He then was simply in the right place at the right time as he rushed forward to tap the ball into an empty net, making it 5-1 after just 48 minutes.
Estonia looked well and truly punished by the final whistle but were still able to put two past the Czech defence – one shored up by Soucek.
Despite shipping two goals, all eyes were on Soucek for what can only be described as a complete midfield display.
Opinion
A hattrick is a feat any striker would be proud of, let alone a defensive midfielder.
The feat exacerbates the well-roundedness of the player that only exacerbates the shrewdness of West Ham’s recruitment.
With defensive prowess, leadership and presence on top of his proven goal threat, few would deny Soucek’s elite calibre.
The 26-year-old has scored 9 goals for the Hammers from his deeper position this season, showing that his threat extends beyond international and well into the Premier League scoring charts.