Slovakia World Cup Team Profile

June 1st, 2010 | by: Daryl | Comments Off

For Slovakia’s World Cup debut (or their first without the Czecho prefix anyway) the team has been drawn into Group F along with Italy, Paraguay and New Zealand. Not exactly easy, but it could have been a lot worse. Which is good, because this team has a lot to offer.

Slovakia is one of those teams you think you know nothing about, until you realize that some of their players are actually quite famous. I can’t reveal those players up here. That information is all below the jump. But I can tell you that the coach has a son by the same name, who will almost certainly feature, that Slovakia has one of world football’s youngest, paciest, dribbliest midfields, and that Slovakia also has maybe the best titled national anthem in all of the World Cup.

Nickname: The repre. Short for “the representatives”.

FIFA World Ranking as of May 26th 2010: #34.

Group F Matches:
Slovakia vs New Zealand – June 15th, 1:30pm, Rustenburg
Slovakia vs Paraguay -June 20th, 1:30pm, Bloemfontein
Slovakia vs Italy – June 24th, 4pm, Johannesburg (Ellis Park)
Buy Slovakia World Cup tickets.

Kit:
Slovakia have an all blue uniform and an all white uniform, but there seems to be some confusion about which is the home kit and which is away. A slim majority say blue is home, so here’s an image:


If you know the answer to the riddle of Slovakia’s home and away shirts, please us know in the comments. More World Cup jerseys in our store.

Coach: That would be Vladimír Weiss, who was a former national team player in the ’80s and ’90s (spanning eras to play in both the Czechoslovakia and Slovakian teams). His coaching experience mostly centers around Artmedia Bratislava, the team he coached to two cups and two league titles, and also took to the Champions League group stage in the 2005/6 season (beating Celtic 5-0 in the qualifying rounds), plus a shortish spell in the Russian Premier League with Saturn Moscow.

Weiss is only 45 years old and seems to enjoy an easy relationship with his players. Trivia you’ll definitely hear from TV commentators later this month: Weiss regularly picks his son Vladimir Jnr. to play in the Slovakian national team, but his own father (also called Vladimir) also played international football, for Czechoslovakia. So that’s three generations of the same family, all with the same name, all playing international football.

Key Players: We mentioned coach’s son Vladimir Weiss Jnr., so let’s begin with him. He’s just 20 years old, but has already signed for Man City and played on loan at Bolton Wanderers in the English Premier League. Three best adjectives for VW Jnr: Short, quick and dribbly. If you think nepotism played a role in Weiss playing for Slovakia at such a young age, then take a look at what he did to Northern Ireland’s Johnny Evans in qualifying:

Speaking of young Slovak attacking mids/wingers on the books of big English teams but out on loan somewhere smaller… 20 year old Miroslav Stoch has been at Chelsea since 2006 but spent last season helping FC Twente win the Eredivisie. More YouTube:

However, when it comes to attacking midfielders, Slovakia’s main man is 22 year old captain Marek Hamšík, who plays in Serie A for Napoli. Hamsik seems a little too fond of his hair, but he’s more than just a flicks and tricks midfielder, he’s more of a lead the charge kind of guy who attacks through the middle at pace. It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that a successful Slovakian World Cup depends on Hamsik’s performance. Since we showed video for Weiss and Stoch, here’s one for Hamsik too.

If those three don’t equal a pacy young midfield worth looking forward to watching at the World Cup, then I’m not sure what does.

The most recognizable name at the back is Liverpool defender Martin Škrtel. He’s big, he’s quick, he’s strong, he’s ultra-competitive and he’s got a shaven head and tattooed arms. What more could you want from a center back? Except for him to not have a knee injury. Which Škrtel is still recovering from. Going forward it’s all about Bochum striker Stanislav Šesták. Top scorer in qualifying for Slovakia with six goals, and scorer of the two last minute goals against Poland that turned a 1-0 defeat into a 2-1 win, Šesták currently averages a goal every three games for his national team.

Player with best YouTube video: This post already has far too many YouTube videos. So take a second look at the Weiss, Stoch and Hamsik clips and decide which one you think is best. I’m tempted to go with Stoch, but then I remember that his highlights come from the Dutch Eredivisie while Hamsik’s come from Serie A.

Player with best name: Has to be Stanislav Šesták, for the double alliteration. Superb work sir.

Player with best nickname: Nicknames seem thin on the ground for the Slovakia team, but apparently Liverpool’s Martin Škrtel is sometimes known as Squirtle.

Qualification: Impressive. Finished ahead of Slovenia, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland and Poland to top Group 3. The home draw and away win over former compatriots the Czech Republic did wonders for self-esteem. Here’s Slovakia’s World Cup 2010 qualification via YouTube:

Interesting: Slovakia have been described by one blogger as born again World Cup virgins.

National Anthem: The excellently titled “Lightning Over the Tatras”. Dramatic.

World Cup History: Slovakia only regained its independence in 1993, and so this will be the nation’s first World Cup. However, here’s what happened while Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia:

Expectations: Slovakia will fancy their chances against New Zealand. But maybe not so much against Italy. They seem quietly confident that qualification from Group F is very much achievable.

Squad: Click for Slovakia World Cup squad.

Blog: Paul and Neil are in charge of Slovakia World Cup Blog.

- More World Cup 2010 Team Profiles.