Slovakia Camp Focus - Slovakia qualify with a memorable victory
The Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg is now the site of the greatest ever moment in Slovakian footballs relatively short history. The debuting nation did the unthinkable, achieving victory against defending World Champions and footballing superpower Italy. Their memorable 3-2 victory ensured they would take the Italian's last 16 spot, an almost unthinkable feat just three weeks ago.
The result was met with jubilation from Coach Vladimir Weiss: "First of all I may say it's so unbelievable, it was a fantastic day for us. We had good preparation for the match with the staff and the players, after the birth of my son it's the second best day of my life. I want to say thanks to the people of Slovakia, who followed us to South Africa, I am very proud of my team, they played a very high level for 80 minutes. There was big pressure in the last 10 minutes but we played a fantastic game and the better team won. Today we are happy people and this is a celebration. I believe today everyone is celebrating in the streets. I want to tell my wife that I love her."
Weiss had called for “boldness” from his team ahead of the encounter, and boldness is definitely what the 45-year-old coach got. They looked refreshed and rejuvenated and from the side that succumbed to a 2-0 defeat against Paraguay and dropped points, thanks to a late Winston Reid header, against the Kiwis. Weiss’ men took the game to the Azzurri from the outset and sure enough took the lead on the 25 minute mark. Italy’s Daniele De Rossi surrendered possession cheaply on the edge of his own area to Juraj Kucka. From there the Sparta Prague man swivelled and fed an inch perfect through ball to striker Robert Vittek, whose low strike from 18 yards found the bottom corner sending the Slovakian fans into raptures.
The defending champions offered very little in the way of creativity and sure enough dropped further behind to another Vittek strike. The 28 year old Ankaragücü front-man slid in ahead of Giorgio Chiellini to poke home a Marek Hamsik cross at the near post after 73 minutes. This did spark an Italian response, as they pulled one back just four minutes later through Antonio Di Natale, but substitute Kamil Kopunek put the game beyond the holders as he latched onto a long throw to dink the ball over the advancing Federico Marchetti. Fabio Quagliarella notched up a consolation deep into injury time, but the resolute Slovak backline held out for the momentous victory.
The final score-line saw Italy dumped out of the competition along with the runners up of 2006, France, both sides finishing bottom or their respective groups. Slovakia’s qualification was far from expected going into the showpiece tournament, with captain Marek Hamsik knowing that they pulled off a major upset: “We were 2-0 up and then sat back a bit, which could've ended badly for us, but thankfully we scored the third goal and that finished off the game. We deserved the victory and are very glad to be through. Just qualifying for the World Cup was a real achievement and nobody expected us to reach the final 16, especially after drawing Italy in our group, so this is extraordinary. We went into the game knowing we had nothing to lose and everything to gain."
Goal scoring striker Robert Vittek was in equally good spirits adding: "It's a huge success. We've moved the limits of Slovak football. We couldn't have dreamt about this. Of course, we didn't expect such domination. We were better during the match. We played with our hearts and that's what decided the match today." The Slovakians will once more be rank outsiders in the knockout phase as they face the rampant Netherlands, but with another performance like this and who knows just how far they can go in South Africa.
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