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A to Z of WORLD CUP SOUTH AFRICA 2010 - Slovakia
SLOVAKIA:
South Africa will be the first appearance in a major international competition for the Slovakians, currently ranked 38th in the World by FIFA. Previous World Cup appearances have been as part of the former Czechoslovakia who can count two Final defeats (2-1 to Italy in 1934 and 3-1 to Brazil in 1962) amongst their eight showings.
Qualification for South Africa saw Slovakia in Group 3 alongside Slovenia, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland and Poland. Early predictions that the team would struggle in this group seemed to be soundly based. But 2-1 and 2-0 defeats to near neighbours Slovenia only seemed to spur the team on. A collective desire to appear in the Finals helped them to live up to their nickname, The Fighting Jondas. A 1-0 victory away to Poland in their final match saw the clinch top spot in Group 3, and a ticket to ‘the promised land’.
The team is coached by former international Vladimer Weiss who took over in June 2008. His team sheet is not littered with household names, with Martin Skrtel of Liverpool being by far the best known – an injury doubt remains over Skrtel’s appearance in South Africa. Team Captain Marek Hanisik of Napoli is likely to be a key player in midfield whilst Stanislav Sestak (who plies his trade in the Bundeslegia) will hope to reproduce his top-scoring form from the qualifying rounds. Boylesport are offering 125/1 on his repeating this feat for the whole World Cup competition.
The team has been drawn in Group F alongside Italy, New Zealand and Paraguay. Though the general expectation is that Italy will top this Group, you can get odds of 8/1 from Stan James on Slovakia doing just that. A more realistic ‘qualifying from the Group’ price of 11/8 can be had at VCBet. For the Slovakians, the crunch match is that on 20th June v Paraguay, where a Jondas victory is at 3/1 with Skybet.
If Slovakia can call on all of their renowned fighting spirit and progress beyond the group, then Paddy Power are offering 5/1 on a quarter-final appearance, whilst Bwin might tempt you with a 50/1 shot on their getting to the semi-finals. A far more fanciful outcome – a Final appearance – can be had at 125/1 with Skybet
Posted: Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 @ 00:05 am by Mark
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