European Football Championship 2016 / Slovakia

This article covers the Slovak national team at the 2016 European Football Championship in France . For Slovakia it was the first participation as an independent nation. Slovak players were part of the Czechoslovak national team , which had participated three times between 1960 and 1992.

qualification

Marek Hamšík , top Slovak scorer in qualification

Slovakia qualified for the European Championship in Group C and met defending champions Spain, with whom the Slovaks fought for a long time for first place and to which they suffered their first defeat in a qualifying game since October 2006 on October 9, 2014. After six wins in a row that put them in first place, they then lost the second leg in Spain and the next two games were not won either. With a win in Luxembourg, however, they secured direct qualification as group runner-up on the final day of the match. They scored three goals within six minutes in the first half, but got into trouble again in the second half. Only in stoppage time did Marek Hamšík make everything clear and the first European Championship qualification perfect. Marek Hamšík was also the team's top scorer with a total of five goals. In total, coach Ján Kozák , who played for Czechoslovakia in their last European Championship participation in 1980, used 26 players, but only Marek Hamšík and goalkeeper Matúš Kozáčik were used in all ten games.

In the FIFA world rankings , the Slovaks improved from 48th to 27th.

Games

All results from a Slovak perspective.

date	Venue	opponent	Result	Goal scorers
09/08/2014	Olympic Stadium , Kiev ( UKR )	Ukraine	1: 0 (1: 0)	1-0 Róbert Mak (17th)
09/10/2014	Štadión pod Dubňom , Žilina	Spain	2: 1 (1: 0)	1: 0 Juraj Kucka (17th), 1: 1 Paco Alcácer (82nd), 2: 1 Miroslav Stoch (87th)
10/12/2014	Baryssau-Arena , Baryssau ( BLR )	Belarus	3: 1 (0: 0)	1: 0 Marek Hamšík (65th), 1: 1 Timofei Kalachev (79th), 2: 1 Marek Hamšík (84th), 3: 1 Stanislav Šesták (90th + 1 ')
11/15/2014	Philip II Arena , Skopje ( MKD )	North Macedonia	2: 0 (2: 0)	1-0 Juraj Kucka (25th), 2-0 Adam Nemec (38th)
03/27/2015	Štadión pod Dubňom , Žilina	Luxembourg	3: 0 (3: 0)	1-0 Adam Nemec (10th), 2-0 Vladimír Weiss (21st), 3-0 Peter Pekarík (40th)
06/14/2015	Štadión pod Dubňom , Žilina	North Macedonia	2: 1 (2: 0)	1-0 Kornel Saláta (8th), 2-0 Marek Hamšík (38th)
05.09.2015	Estadio Nuevo Carlos Tartiere , Oviedo ( ESP )	Spain	0: 2 (0: 2)	0: 1 Jordi Alba (5th), 0: 2 Iniesta (30th / penalty)
09/08/2015	Štadión pod Dubňom , Žilina	Ukraine	0-0
09/10/2015	Štadión pod Dubňom , Žilina	Belarus	0: 1 (0: 1)	0: 1 Stanislav Dragun (34.)
October 12, 2015	Josy Barthel Stadium , Luxembourg City ( LUX )	Luxembourg	4: 2 (3: 0)	1: 0 Marek Hamšík (24th), 2: 0 Adam Nemec (29th), 3: 0 Róbert Mak (30th), 3: 1 Mario Mutsch (61th), 3: 2 Lars Gerson (65th / penalty ), 4: 2 Marek Hamšík (90. + 1 ')

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Spain	10	9	0	1	023: 300	+20	27
2.	Slovakia	10	7th	1	2	017: 800	+9	22nd
3.	Ukraine	10	6th	1	3	014: 400	+10	19th
4th	Belarus	10	3	2	5	008:140	−6	11
5.	Luxembourg	10	1	1	8th	006:270	−21	04th
6th	North Macedonia	10	1	1	8th	006:180	−12	04th
Status: October 12, 2015

preparation

After the end of the qualification, Slovakia played against the two European Championship participants Switzerland in Žilina and Iceland in Trnava on November 13th and 17th and won both games (3: 2 and 3: 1). On March 25th in Trnava there was only one goalless draw against the Latvians who did not qualify for the EM . Four days later was in Dublin European Football Cup Ireland the next opponent and again the Slovaks with a draw had to be satisfied, this time to 1: 0 lead and 1: 2 behind with a 2: 2, thanks to an own goal of an Irishman.

In the immediate preparation, the Slovaks won 3-1 each in Wels , Austria against Georgia and on May 29th against Germany in Augsburg on May 29th and parted goalless from Northern Ireland on June 4th in Trnava .

Squad

The preliminary roster of 27 players was announced by national coach Ján Kozák on May 16, 2016 and reduced to 23 players on May 30, 2016. Players from 20 clubs were nominated, most of them by Czech champions Viktoria Pilsen (3).

No.	position	Surname	society	birth date	NM Sp.	NM gates	debut
23	goalkeeper	Matúš Kozáčik	Viktoria Plzen	Dec. 27, 1983	18th	0	2006	4th
01	goalkeeper	Ján Mucha	Slovan Bratislava	0Dec 5, 1982	46	0	2008
12	goalkeeper	Jan Novota	SK Rapid Vienna	Nov 29, 1983	3	0	2014
04th	Defense	Ján Ďurica	Moscow locomotive	Dec 10, 1981	80	4th	2004	4th		1
05	Defense	Norbert Gyömbér	AS Roma	03rd July 1992	13	0	2014	2
15th	Defense	Tomáš Hubočan	FK Dynamo Moscow	17 Sep 1985	44	0	2004	2
02	Defense	Peter Pekarík	Hertha BSC	Oct. 30, 1986	68	2	2006	4th
16	Defense	Kornel Saláta	Slovan Bratislava	Jan. 24, 1985	37	2	2008	1
14th	Defense	Milan Škriniar	Sampdoria Genoa	Feb 11, 1995	2	0	2016	2
03	Defense	Martin Škrtel	Liverpool FC	Dec 15, 1984	82	5	2004	4th		2
18th	Defense	Dušan Švento	1. FC Cologne	0Aug 1, 1985	40	1	2006	3
08th	midfield	Ondrej Duda	Legia Warsaw	0Dec 5, 1994	12	2	2014	3	1
06th	midfield	Ján Greguš	FK Jablonec	Jan. 29, 1991	7th	0	2015	1
17th	midfield	Marek Hamšík	SSC Naples	July 27, 1987	88	18th	2007	4th	1
13	midfield	Patrik Hrošovský	Viktoria Plzen	Apr 22, 1992	13	0	2014	2		1
19th	midfield	Juraj Kucka	AC Milan	Feb. 26, 1987	48	5	2008	4th		2
20th	midfield	Róbert Mak	PAOK Thessaloniki	0March 8 1991	28	7th	2013	3		1
22nd	midfield	Viktor Pečovský	MŠK Žilina	May 24, 1983	32	1	2012	2		1
09	midfield	Stanislav Šesták	Ferencváros Budapest	Dec 16, 1982	65	13	2004	1
10	midfield	Miroslav Stoch	Bursaspor	Oct 19, 1989	55	6th	2009	1
07th	midfield	Vladimír Weiss	al-Gharafa Sports Club	Nov. 30, 1989	53	4th	2009	4th	1	1
21st	attack	Michal Ďuriš	Viktoria Plzen	0June 1, 1988	27	4th	2012	3
11	attack	Adam Nemec	Willem II Tilburg	0Sep 2 1985	23	6th	2006	2

Coach: Ján Kozák

Players who were only in the preliminary roster

On May 30, 2016, four players were removed from the provisional squad.

position	Surname	society	Date of birth	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	debut
Defense	Lukáš Tesák	FK Qairat Almaty	0March 8 1985	4th	0	2015
midfield	Matúš Bero	FK AS Trenčín	06 Sep 1995	1	0	2016
midfield	Erik Sabo	PAOK Thessaloniki	Nov 22, 1991	9	0	2014
attack	Adam Zreľák	Slovan Bratislava	0May 5, 1994	2	1	2013

Remarks:

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} as of June 26, 2016 ( source )

Finals

St-Etienne Bordeaux Lille (VR + AF) Vichy

Venues (green = won, yellow = draw, red = lost), quarters (blue)

When the six final groups were drawn on December 12, 2015, Slovakia was placed in Pot 3 and could therefore not face the Czechs, who were also placed in Pot 3. During the draw, the Slovaks in Group B were drawn with England, Russia and Wales, making them the only group with two newcomers to the European Championship. Against England and Russia, the record before the EM was negative. All three games against England were lost, two of them in qualifying for the 2004 and most recently a friendly match in March 2009. Both will meet again in the qualifying for the 2018. Russia had previously faced eight opponents, with two wins, two draws and three defeats, the last time in May 2014. There were only two games against Wales, both in qualifying for the 2008 European Championship, with both winning each other and five Scored goals. Slovakia could then only score five or more goals against San Marino , Wales only five against Luxembourg .

The Slovaks started with a 2-1 defeat against Wales, in which they fell behind after just ten minutes with a free kick converted directly by Gareth Bale . In the 61st minute, Ondrej Duda, who had been substituted on a minute earlier, equalized. In the 81st minute they then had to accept the goal to 1: 2 by the also substituted Hal Robson-Kanu . They were the better teams against Russia and took the lead thanks to goals from Vladimír Weiss and Marek Hamšík . Although the Russians managed to hit the connection in the 80th minute, they were unable to do more. The Slovaks thus equalized their balance sheet against the Russians. With a goalless draw against England they secured third place in the group and met Germany, the winners of Group C, as the best third party in the second round. The Slovaks had no chance and lost 3-0.

Thanks to the European Championship matches and a preparatory match, Slovakia won twelve points in the FIFA world rankings and moved up one place.

Group stage

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Wales	3	2	0	1	006: 300	+3	06th
2.	England	3	1	2	0	003: 200	+1	05
3.	Slovakia	3	1	1	1	003: 300	± 0	04th
4th	Russia	3	0	1	2	002: 600	−4	01

Sat., June 11, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Bordeaux
Wales	-	Slovakia	2: 1 (1: 0)
Wed., June 15, 2016 at 3 p.m. in Villeneuve-d'Ascq ( Lille )
Russia	-	Slovakia	1: 2 (0: 2)
Mon 20 June 2016 at 9:00 p.m. in Saint-Étienne
Slovakia	-	England	0-0

Round of 16

Round of 16 Sunday June 26, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Lille
Germany	-	Slovakia	3: 0 (2: 0)

See also

• Slovak national football team / European championships

Individual evidence

1. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (August 14, 2014)
2. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (5th November 2015)
3. ^ Rep. Of Ireland - Slovakia 2: 2
4. ↑ "Ján Kozák nominoval na tréningový kemp a májové zápasy 27 hráčov" ( Memento of the original from May 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , futbalsfz.sk  
5. ↑ Škriniar in Slovakia's EURO squad , uefa.com
6. ↑ “UEFA EURO 2016 final draw” , uefa.com