What has differentiated Slovakia to date, at these European Championships—pending, of course, further drama this week/end—is the fact that they are the only representative of the P5 to qualify for the finals via qualifying. They outperformed expectations already to get through the groups; Sunday represents a chance to go one better against England.
Less than two years ago, it was a miserable set of results in the Nations League that condemned them to Monday’s draw alongside teams like Gibraltar, Latvia and Cyprus following home defeats to teams such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
Manager Stefan Tarkovic’s position was unsurprisingly untenable and his replacement, Francesco Calzona, has proved a revelation. “He changed not only the style of the game, but also our way of thinking,” said winger Lukas Haraslin ahead of this weekend’s showdown in Gelsenkirchen.
Reaching the last 16 is nothing new for Slovakia, who made this stage in 2016 before they were swept aside by semi-finalists Germany.
But ahead of their latest foray into the knock-outs, the national media back home runs a warning which may prove prophetic to an England side yet to hit any sort of form.
“The English do not take the Slovaks seriously,” reads one headline in the Pravda newspaper, quoting Jude Bellingham admitted he did not know who England would be playing in their next game during a recent interview.
Slovakia aren’t exactly quaking in their collective boots about the prospect of facing Gareth Southgate’s side.
Before Georgia’s unlikely win over Portugal, Calzona looked most likely to be setting his team up to face Spain, the tournament’s most impressive performers, in the last 16.
“I would rather choose the English,” said experienced midfielder Ondrej Duda, who scored their opener against Romania in their final group game. “They are of course favourites and have great quality, but they haven’t dazzled in Germany yet.”
Slovakia can already one-up England in one of their biggest failings, an inability to beat quality opposition, something Calzona achieved in his first game of the tournament with a shock 1-0 win over Belgium.
At some points that performance encapsulated everything many fans hope England could be at this tournament – high pressing, dogged, committed.
It also acts as a warning to Gareth Southgate.
England have been poor at building through the lines and Slovakia’s two No 8s, Juraj Kucka and Duda, have been told to throttle their opponents.
Though the former turned 37 in February, just four players have regained possession in the final third more across the whole tournament so far. Indeed, no one in a Slovakia shirt ran further in that Belgium match than the veteran.
“Our playing style is quite unforgiving, very proactive,” said former Slovakia U21 coach Adrian Gula ahead of the last 16, as quoted by The Guardian.
As such, it is still the order of the day and Slovakia are well-drilled in transition, and extremely robust at defending their own 18-yard box.
Only Portugal, Germany and Ukraine have faced fewer crosses, and the number of shots they have conceded from inside their own penalty area ranks straight down the middle of the knockout qualifiers.
A settled team, and back-line in particular, helps with that. Slovakia have fielded the oldest average XI at Euro 2024, including former Scudetto winner Milan Skiniar to marshal the defence – with Feyenoord’s David Hancko, more comfortable in the middle than at left-back, doing a steady job out wide.
Skriniar and his centre-back partner Denis Vavro have an important job going forward, too. Slovakia are unapologetically direct, generally looking to find Lucas Haraslin or Ivan Schranz, the two danger men out wide.
It works to good effect, Schranz ranking as one of only six players to have scored more than once in Germany, while only Christian Eriksen has completed more crosses than Haraslin.
Either England’s press, when out of possession, will have to be much more resolute in its attempts to counter this or Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker more careful about staying upfield when play turns over—should they ever get another run together under Southgate.
Sparta Prague’s Haraslin has come into the tournament in the form of his life and already proved effective from corners in Germany. They could have, and perhaps should have, scored twice from his deliveries early in their draw with Romania.
This is something else which England will have to be tight at, though their ability to defend against the aerial threat of their group stage opponents has been one of the few positives so far.
There are other reasons England will feel more at ease. Should they manage to play through the initial press, they’ll find a Slovakia defense exposed against England’s raw attacking talent—even if that talent has largely gone missing to this point.
Their reputation for running out of legs and dropping off will also be familiar to England fans, who were forced to hang on against Belgium and undid all of their good work by shipping two second-half goals against Ukraine.
Perhaps Napoli midfielder Stanislav Lobotka put it best: “You can say that England are not at their best but at some time they will click and kick on, it is just a question of when.”
Lobotka is probably right, but whether it happens at this tournament or under Southgate, the tools are in Slovakia’s possession to show England precisely why they need to be aware of what they’re coming up against.