Slovakia National Football Team - History

History

See also: Czechoslovakia national football team

The first official match of the first Slovak Republic (1939–1945) was played in Bratislava against Germany on 27 August 1939, and ended in a 2–0 victory for Slovakia. After the Second World War, the national football team was subsumed into the team of Czechoslovakia, and for over fifty years Slovakia played no matches as an independent country. During this period they contributed several key players to the Czechoslovak team, including the majority of the team that won the 1976 European Championships (eight of the eleven players who defeated West Germany in the final were Slovak).

Slovakia's first official international after regaining independence was a 1–0 victory in Dubai over the United Arab Emirates on 2 February 1994. Their match back on Slovak soil was the 4–1 defeat against Croatia in Bratislava on 20 April 1994. Slovakia suffered their biggest defeat since independence (6–0) on 22 June 1995, in Mendoza, against Argentina. Their biggest wins (7–0) have come against Liechtenstein in 2004 and San Marino (twice) in 2007.

Slovakia played in a major championship as an independent team for the first time in Euro '96 qualifying, but finished in third place in their qualifying group, behind Romania and France, having recorded wins against Poland, Israel and Azerbaijan, twice. In the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, Slovakia finished fourth in their six-team group with five wins, one draw and four defeats. Their first four games in this were all wins, with one of these against their Czech neighbours, helping the team reach their highest FIFA World Ranking to date of #17.

Slovakia participated in the FIFA World Cup for the first time in their history as an independent nation after finishing in first place in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 3 ahead of Slovenia, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, and Poland. On 14 October 2009, they clinched qualification with a 1–0 away win against Poland. On 24 June 2010, Slovakia finished second in the group stage after defeating World Cup titleholders Italy in a game which ESPN called "epic". The game saw three goals being scored after the 80th minute, two by Italy and one by Slovakia, as well as, a disallowed goal by Italy flagged offside by "the tightest of decisions". The result led Slovakia to the knockout stage and eliminated Italy, which finished last in the group. The result of this match meant that for the first time in World Cup history both finalists from the previous tournament have been eliminated from the first round, champion Italy and runner-up France. From here the Slovaks played the Netherlands in the round of 16, Slovakia were complete underdogs going into the game, but for most of the match until conceding their first goal were creating chances. From here Slovakia lost belief they could go back into the match and then fell 2–0 behind only to score a late goal from the penalty spot which turned out to be the last kick of the game. This returned Róbert Vittek to the top of the goalscoring charts joint top with David Villa until Villa himself scored against Portugal in a 1–0 win.

For UEFA Euro 2012 qualification, Slovakia was drawn against Russia, Ireland, Armenia, Macedonia and Andorra. The good campaign in South Africa boosted team performance ahead of the qualifiers, which started in September with two 1-0 wins against Macedonia in Stadion Pasienky and Russia away, this one in particular giving Slovakia the perfect start. However, October came and team form slipped steadily, as Repre was easily beaten in Armenia (3-1) and couldn't do better than a 1-1 home draw against Ireland. At that point, Russia topped the group charts with 9 points, with Slovakia, Armenia and Ireland all in 2 point-gap of the leaders.

However, 2011 came in things got terribly worse. In February, the team was stunned in a 2-1 friendly defeat against Luxembourg, before needing to fight hard for two 1-0 wins against group minnows Andorra, who had conceded 11 goals in the previous four matches. Playing in Ireland in a six-point match, Slovakia got a goalless draw, despite having the best chances, which kept both teams two points behind Russia, and leading Armenia by three. Four days later, even though, Slovakia had its most disastrous performance in years, as, after creating chances in a goalless first half, went on to concede four goals to an effective and brave Armenian team, what definitely ended team confidence in the tournament spot. In the final two matches, Slovakia was beaten at home by Russia, 1-0, despite playing much better than against Armenia, and drew in Macedonia 1-1, to a mediocre fourth place, and scoring only seven goals in the whole process. Actually it was the first time since UEFA Euro 1996 that Slovakia finished a qualifying campaign with a negative goal difference. Vladimír Weiss left his job after four full years, being replaced by his assistant Michal Hipp and Stanislav Griga, who will form a coaching duo starting from the next campaign.