Why the Slos are in with a shout

Think both Slovakia and Slovenia are irrelevant, simply here to make up the numbers ?

Think again.

It's customary to dismiss most Eastern European nations out of hand, on account of a lack of household names.  True, there are no superstars on either squad, but a team is more than a collection of names.

Slovenia:

Slovenia has one bonafide top drawer attraction in forward Milivoje Novakovic.(left) 

However their squad is a well drilled technical outfit who finished second in a tricky qualifying group that included the Czech Republic before overcoming Russia in a qualifier.

Goalkeeper Samir Handanovic is reliable without being unspectacular, allowing only 4 goals in the 10 qualifying games.  Other than Holland, no one conceded fewer goals.

In front of him, Mišo Brečko, Marko Šuler and Bojan Jokić (below, contesting a header) for a tidy defensive unit. Suler and Jokic are strong on set-pieces with both scoring during the qualifiers and build up.

The midfield is manned by Aleksander Radosavljevič, Auxerre's Valter Birsa, Dalibor Stevanovic and creative attacking presence and captain Robert Koren(below).

Koren, other than the aforementioned Novakovic, is probably the only other player likely to sound familiar, plying his trade with West Brom in The Premiership.  Inter midfielder Rene Krhin and Andrej Komac bring pace and experience respectively off the bench.

The attacking corps comes with a muti-faceted threat, with scoring coming from Novakovic, Zlatko Dedič, and Nejc Pečnik, the latter scoring the winner at home that took the team into the World Cup.

They play well together, in a unit that is unheralded, but rarely out of ideas.  

Technically sound, they pose a bigger threat than most reckon to England and USA in their group.

Write them off at your own peril.

Slovakia:

This team is slightly more established than Slovenia.

Led by young midfield Maestro Marek Hamsik, and with Lille striker Robert Vittek up front ,they pose a more attacking threat than many of their fellow World Cup competitors.

Having lit up Serie A for the better part of three seasons with Napoli, Hamsik (left) has both the skills and staying power to steer Slovakia into the knockout stages.

 

With a possible move to one of Europe's big guns beckoning after the tournament, Hamsik will be the focal point of all that Slovakia creates.

In qualifying they won Group 3 with strong consistent performances both away and at home, including home and away victories over Poland.  Scoring freely they tallied 22 times as they recorded seven wins in 10 games with four of them being on the road.

The squad has, on paper, an unremarkable feel to it but they have one standout in each zone.  Liverpool's Martin Skrtel (right) is notoriously hard to play against with a a tough 'take-no-prisoners' approach.  Supported well by Marek Cech, TSV Mainz's Radoslav Zabavnik and Jan Durica, they should prove hard to breach.  

Behind them Everton's Jan Mucha is competent, if nothing more.

Around Hamsik in midfield, Jan Kozak, Miroslav Stoch and Zdeno Strba provide cut and thrust with the odd goal capable from both open play and dead balls.  Manchester City's Vladimir Weiss, the national team manager's son, is an exciting prospect to bring off the bench.

Up front is where the real firepower lies with Vittek,(left) Stanislav Sestak(below) and Filip Holosko all capable and accomplished.  Admittedly Vittek and Holosko are nursing injuries as the tounament kicks off, but with their first game not till June 15th, they have plenty of time to recover and prime.

Slovakia should emerge as well from their group which is sligthly easier than Slovenia's.  Don't count out an upset result against Italy.

They are definitely in it to win it.