Emotional selector Matjaž Kek before the match of the generation: ‘I have been through a lot in my career, but… These are the matches you live for!”
Photo: Grega Valančič / Sportida
The countdown is over, the long and arduous journey to Euro 2024 will come to an end tonight in Stožice. In a packed stadium in Ljubljana, everything will be decided in the last 90 minutes. Slovenia is in a great position ahead of Kazakhstan – just a point would be enough to qualify for the tournament in Germany. Ahead of the grand final, Slovenian selector Matjaž Kek admitted that emotions are running high, but he has no doubt that Monday will be a day of great celebration for a generation that has never played in a major competition.
“It’s very easy to go into this game because there is only one goal – to qualify for the European Championships. We are aware that the goal of the opponent is the same. So thoughts can actually be very pure. To talk about tactical ideas, individuals and so on; that is now up to the fans and the media. We are only interested in the end goal. With all due respect to Kazakhstan, who also made it to this decisive match. We are playing at home, and if you can take anything from a defeat like the one in Copenhagen, it is the energy of the home fans. I don’t see why we should live under any pressure because of that,” said Matjaž Kek at the latest press conference at Brdo pri Kranju.
Matjaž Kek : “I’ve been saying it all along…”
The Maribor player, who already tasted the taste of the big competition in 2010 at the World Cup in South Africa, added: “To send tingles through your body… I have been saying it all along. Me too, who has been through a lot in my career. But these are the games you work for, as the captain said, the games you live for. We have been through good times together, but also much less good times. It does not happen from today to tomorrow, nothing happens by chance and we must behave like it. This has to be the highlight of everything for us, and I would like to stress once again that football will be played on Tuesday. Hopefully also with joy for Football Slovenia.”
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This text was automatically translated using AI. Author: editorial Football PlanetEuro2024
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