Matjaž Kek and his Belfast team also against a negative tradition: Slovenia has never won away to Northern Ireland, but…
D-Day, the race to be or not to be, and that’s another metaphorical way of describing tonight’s showdown between Matjaz Kek’ s squad and the Northern Ireland national team in Belfast. It will really get underway at 20.45 Slovenian time, when Istvan Kovacs, the head referee, will announce the kick-off of the Northern Ireland – Slovenia in the qualifiers for Euro 2024.
Before the showdown at Windsor Park, it’s also worth taking a look at a bit of history, which, to be honest, is in favour of today’s hosts. The British Isles team can boast three World Cup appearances, but the last dates back to 1986, when they played in Mexico. Like Slovenia, they have only tasted the Euro once, at least so far, when they even managed to qualify for the eighth round in France in 2016, where they were defeated by their Welsh brethren.
At the same time, Northern Ireland boasts one of the legends of world football, one who is also pictured in front of the theatre of dreams, the famous Old Trafford, home to Manchester United, considered one of the most trophy clubs in England. But the Northern Ireland legend didn’t make much of a name for himself in his national team career, making just 37 appearances and scoring 9 goals in 13 years. Benjamin Šeško has just as many… We are, of course, talking about George Best. The Northern Irish could really dream of success in Best’s time, just like Slovenians can today, and they would be very close to it if they won tonight, but…
In 2008, Slovenia was also a home winner with +2
Unfortunately, Slovenia cannot boast an away win in Northern Ireland in its history. The team from the British Isles has always been an unfavourable opponent for Slovenia, winning three of their six previous matches, drawing once, and winning twice, but both of them on Slovenian turf. Alongside all these facts, there is also some history that speaks in favour of our chosen species.
In 2008, after winning our first home game against the hosts of today by two goals, we ended up going to our second World Cup, hosted by South Africa in 2010, despite an away defeat. Once again, we beat the Northern Irish at home by two goals, while chasing only our second European Championship qualification. Records are there to be broken and (negative) streaks are there to be broken. Whether Jan Oblak and company will be at the gates of paradise after tonight’s showdown will be clear soon…
This text was automatically translated using AI.
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