Slovenia strolls to fourth win in San Marino: Matjaz Keke’s side heads into Group H’s hellish finish from top spot
Slovenia, welcome to the group of … death! Although the selector’s squad Matjaž Kek brought San Marino (4-0) to its knees after Northern Ireland and added 6 points to its account in the September deadline, it is no closer to Euro 2024. It is true that it is not in a bad position by any chance, but at the same time, the following is also true: it may never have been in such an evenly matched group in its entire history!
After six rounds have been played, the top four teams in the
Group H
are separated by just … one point! But at this moment, this is also very important: Slovenia shares first place with four rounds to go. Kek’s squad has the same number of points as Denmark (13; Slovenia is first in the rankings thanks to a better goal difference), who beat Finland on Sunday, while the latter is tied on points with Kazakhstan (both on 12), who were better than Northern Ireland.
Slovenia will continue qualification on 14. On October 6, the team will play one of the most important matches of the qualification rounds at home – away to Finland in Ljubljana. Three days later, the Slovenians will face a rematch with a written-off Northern Ireland in Belfast.
The match in Serravalle started in the best possible way for Slovenia: before San Marino could form a solid block, which many of them are struggling with, selector Matjaz Kek’s eleven had already taken the lead. The Slovenians immediately went on the attack, earned two shots and then, in the fourth minute, Žan Vipotnik hit the home net.
Žan Karničnik made a good run past three San Marino defenders on the left and passed the ball between the legs of several players to the French second league striker Bordeaux, who was included in the Slovenian national team’s starting eleven for the first time ever, and it was not difficult for him to score. 1:0 for Slovenia
Slovenia is again without Blažič almost immediately
Kek had to make his first substitution in Serravalle after just over 10 minutes, when Miha Blažič left the field due to injury and was replaced by Vanja Drkušić. Blažič is really unlucky in these qualifiers, even the game with Kazakhstan was over for him after a few minutes.
Slovenia increased its lead to 16. Karničnik added a new assist and Jan Mlakar was among the scorers. The latter found himself alone on the left side of the penalty area in front of goalkeeper Elio Benedettini and routinely beat him with a shot between his legs. 2:0 for Slovenia.
San Marino 0-2 Slovenia – Jan Mlakar 16‘pic.twitter.com/mDUzx2GtwI
– GoalRushHQ (@GoalRushHQ) September 10, 2023
The cat and mouse game continued in the first half, with the score close to 11 after less than half an hour. Andraž Šporar scored the national team’s goal, but after a great action and a pass from Petr Stojanović, he simply hit the ball too badly. The score did not change in the opening 45 minutes, but Slovenia could go into the break happy; the toddler was already on his knees.
In the second half, without an opening goal, the first name of the match was the home goalkeeper Elia Benedettini, who stopped the dangerous attempts of the Slovenians as if on cue, but in the 59th minute of the second half, the Slovenian goalkeeper Elia Benedettini scored the first goal of the match. In the final minute, the team still lost for the third time. Sandi Lovrić exchanged the ball beautifully with Šporar, then finished his effective break with a precisely timed diagonal shot. 3:0 for Slovenia. San Marino then finally “fell apart” and the only question was how much the final difference would be in Slovenia’s favour. The latter had 19 shots (8 on target), while San Marino had only two attempts (1 on target).
The fourth goal of the match, which saw Slovenia jump ahead of Denmark on goal difference, was scored by Žan Karničnik, a double first-half passer. Celje ‘s player was in the right place after Benedettini intervened, and he was there after Šporar’s header. But unfortunately for him, it was Karničnik who drew the blood on the rebound and crowned an outstanding performance with his first national team goal. Adam Gnezd Cerin’s goal, scored by the midfielder after a pass from reserve Luka Zahović, was disallowed for offside, but nobody in the Slovenian camp was too upset about it. At that point, victory was sealed, three points were in the bag and first place after six rounds was secured.
This text was automatically translated using AI.
National Team
#euro2024
#lukamlakar
#sandilovric
#žankarničnik
#žanvipotnik
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