Erik Janža scored a masterful goal in Denmark, and before the Kazakhstan game he stressed, “There is no negative. And there is no reason for it!”

Published on 18. November 2023 19. November 2023

Photo by Matic Klanšek Velej / Sportida

If it had gone the other way, his goal would have gone down in history. As one of the most beautiful, as one of those who have marked the greatest successes of the Slovenian national team. Generations would be spinning it for years and years afterwards. But then, if we don’t want to, we will quickly forget about it. Erik Janža hits the Danish net with a masterful free kick in Copenhagen, but it was not enough for Slovenia. Denmark won and qualified for Euro 2024, while Slovenia will try to reach Germany in the last round, when a draw at home against Kazakhstan will be enough.

“The Danes have not conceded a single point at home in these qualifiers, and this is their stronghold. We tried, we gave everything, but unfortunately it was not enough for such a good Denmark. We were not surprised by them, we just overreacted to their aggressiveness. Every high ball or second ball was theirs, that’s where we had the biggest problems. They also changed the diagonal pages a lot, and we had some problems with that as well,“, explained Erik Janža after the defeat in northern Europe.

Erik Janža: “We’re going upside down”

Captain of the Polish top flight team Gornik then touched on the goal and explained how the decision to take the free kick came about. “We talked about who was going to shoot. I said I would, because it was a good position for a left-winger. I took a shot and the ball ended up in the net. But I don’t care about that, our minds are already on Monday to do what we have to do there. We told ourselves that we had to forget about the Denmark game as soon as possible, because there was no point in dwelling on it too much. They were better and we must congratulate them. Monday is our game and we have to give it our all,“, Erik Janža admitted that the excitement after the beautiful goal quickly faded because of the result, which he would have liked to have been different.

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What was, was. Now is not the time to bemoan our fate. Erik Janža also agrees on the need to raise our heads and forget the disappointment of Copenhagen as soon as possible. After all, Slovenia is still second in the qualification Group H rankings, which means it is in charge of its own destiny. That’s more than we could have hoped for before the start of the qualifiers…

“Captain Oblak also told us that we need to look positively ahead. There is no negative, nor is there any reason for it. We are in the position we wanted, it is up to us. We will give 120% on Monday, we will go head to head to win and qualify for the EP. We need to rest and get some sleep, and then we will prepare for the game. Fans need not worry. We believe, we are 100% sure, that we will be better. We are playing at home, where we have never lost a game. Let’s keep it that way,” concluded the 30-year-old Erik Janža, who is currently Slovenia’s third top scorer in these qualifiers with two goals, behind Benjamin Šešek (4) and Andraz Šporar (3). Žan Vipotnik also scored twice.