This is the first international tournament that Slovakia have qualified for since gaining their independence in 1994.
By Conor Hogan
Slovakia weren’t expected to qualify (they were seeded fourth), but thanks to away victories against Poland, the Czech Republic and Northern Ireland they managed to top their group.
They have a young team, and some of them only experienced regular first team football for the first time this season (including Miroslav Stoch, on loan to FC Twente from Chelsea, and Vladimir Weiss Jr, on loan to Bolton from Chelsea).
Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel (two time Slovakian player of the year) is an injury scare, having injured his ankle in a warm up game against Costa Rica on the 5th June. He formed an excellent defensive partnership with Lokomotiv Moscow’s Jan Durica in the qualifiers (where they conceded just ten goals) and they will hope that he is back for the vital second match against Paraguay at the latest.
Slovakia have the option of playing either a 4-4-2 formation (with Bochum’s Stanislav Sestak and Robert Vittak up front) or a 4-5-1 formation (with Vittek supported by three attacking midfieders in Weiss, Stoch, and Hamsik). Their goalkeeper, Legia’s Jan Mucha, while outstanding in qualifying, is looked upon as a potential weakness.
Star Player: Marek Hamsik
The dynamic 22-year-old had an excellent season for Napoli in 2009-2010, scoring 12 league goals from midfield. He has been the top scorer at his club three years running, and was named Slovakian Young Player of the Year twice.
He has been linked with £16million moves to both Manchester United and Manchester City, and a lot of big clubs across Europe will be monitoring his progress in the tournament. Any success Slovakia get in South Africa will depend greatly on him.
Manager: Vladimir Weiss Sr
Weiss might be best known in these parts as the man who, as manager of Artmedia Bratislava, inflicted Gordon Strachan’s Celtic to a 5-0 defeat in the Champions League Qualifiers in 2005-2006. Artmedia narrowly missed out on qualifying for the knockout stages that year (though they did manage a 3-2 away victory against Porto).
He has been successful in the Slovakian Corgoň Liga, winning two league titles, and two Slovak Cups. He is the father of 20-year-old Manchester City player Vladamir Weiss, who will start at right midfield. At 46, he is the youngest manager at the World Cup.
Prediction: First Round exit
The Slovakians won’t embarrass themselves in South Africa, but they probably won’t do enough to qualify for the second round. They’ll more than likely beat New Zealand, and lose to Italy, so the Paraguay match is absolutely vital.
Not a lot separates those two teams, but Slovakia’s lack of experience at the World Cup Stage (and a lack of regular games for many of their important players) should cost them.
Odds: 200/1
Irishness rating: 7/10
They have a similar population to Ireland (around five million), and their majority religion is also Catholicism. They used to be part of another Empire and had to wait hundreds of years to gain independence, and their currency is the Euro. Oh, and Lubo Moravcik used to play for Celtic.
If they were a car they’d be. . .
Samsung SM7. Samsung started making cars with the assistance of Renault in 1994, but have only found success recently with their mid-sized luxury sedan.
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