''I feel I must help the team," was quoted as saying by Sky Sports on Tuesday. "But if it was not the World Cup finals, I would probably give it up.''

''I have special socks in my boots which expand the weight on my whole foot. I still have the blood clot and my movement is not 100 percent."

Baros sustained a painful instep injury in a pre-World Cup game against Trinidad and Tobago that kept him out of Czech's two games against the United States and Ghana.

Czech team doctors believe Baros' injury is healing well and the Aston Villa forward could feature for his country on Thursday.

"The accumulated humor in the foot has been absorbed and the crack is healed up," Czech team spokesman Lucas Tucek said.

The World Cup debutants need to beat Italy to secure passage to the second round and Czech coach Karel Brueckner is in a tight spot as starting striker Jan Koller is still nursing an injury.

Koller is yet to recover from a hamstring injury he sustained in the 3-0 win against the United States.

"No improvement has happened," Koller said of his injury.