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Four days before joining EURO 2020, the minds of Slovak footballers will be fully focused on the first match against Poland (Monday, June 14). From Friday, preparations for an important entry into the tournament against the quarterfinalist of the last championship began to be fine-tuned, said Slovak captain Marek Hamšík at a media deadline at the St. Petersburg training center.
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The 30-year-old midfielder, on whom the national team coach Štefan Tarkovič will rely extremely, has excellent impressions from the first days in Russia. “Everything is going as it should. Nice training center, nice playground, nice hotel. We are glad that we are at such a big tournament and we are enjoying it so far, “ said Špílmacher SR.
For “repre” fans, he confirmed the good news that the calf injury is significantly improving and should be available against Poles: “It looks like the problems are already behind me, I trained two full trainings. If this continues, I will definitely be available. I’m excited. Personally, I haven’t trained as much as the team, so I don’t have my teeth full yet. “
The whole Slovak team moves strictly in a “bubble” in the Russian venue and the support of the team wishes to avoid coronavirus problems that plague other Slovak opponents in the E-group from Sweden and Spain: “I’ll close, I hope we avoid it. So that we are not positive for the covid. Belong to that, we try to be in the bubble and follow all precautions. I guess it will be good. ”
The time of the kick to the opening duel is relentlessly shortened, so the space has already been given a specific preparation for the opponent. “Tactical things need to be fine-tuned without debate. From today we start preparing for the first opponent, we only have that in our head. The first match will be really important, we have to prepare well. Especially to avoid injuries, so that we are all available to the coach, “ stated Hamšík, which has already solved the club future after the championship by transferring to the Turkish Trabzonspor.
It can thus perfectly focus on the European Championships: “It was very fast, Trabzonspor showed great interest, they literally went after me and the coach was very interested in me. I can already focus fully on the national team, on performances and on Slovakia’s results for the EURO. We look forward to it breaking out, we will be watching other matches in the tournament from today. ”
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The ambitions of Slovakia, which qualified for EURO 2016 in France as a debutant in the era of independence until the eightfinals, are again progressive: “We are in a similar situation as in previous championships, we are not favorites. But football is unpredictable and I think Slovakia has the strength to advance from the group. But we have to give such performances that we deserve it. It won’t work without it, it will definitely be very difficult. “
Hamšík made his national team debut against Poland in February 2007, but he doesn’t remember much of it. The current selection of the team of the Portuguese coach Paul Sousu is considered a favorite.
“I see them as a strong opponent with very strong players. Lewandowski is certainly the most dangerous. I think that overall they are a team that is considering progress and there will be favorites against us. I played a few minutes during my debut, I don’t remember much. We haven’t met them in a long time, but they have good results and have always been able to qualify, ” thought the leader of the team, which also played in Piotr Zieliňski in Naples: “For me, Zielinski is the most talented player I’ve ever played with.”
