Slovenia’s painful sobering in northern Europe: after a lacklustre performance against Finland, first defeat on the road to Euro 2024
It was nice, very nice. Apparently too good to be true. And the sobering came. Painful, if I may add.
Slovenia
suffered its first defeat in qualifying for the Euro 2024. A well-deserved defeat. It’s true that she had her chances in Helsinki (not a few…) and if she had taken one… If, if, if. The fact is that Matjaz Keke ‘s charges were poor in Finland. And, above all, worse than Finland. The hosts scored two goals to secure their second win (2:0), which puts them level with Slovenia at the top of the Group H standings. The next match is on Monday, when they take on Denmark in Stožice .
Slovenia played the game without captain Jan Oblak, who has been injured for some time. Vid Belec played instead. Jon Gorenc Stanković, who would have started the game in the starting line-up, also withdrew before the game due to a virus.
Slovenia started the game badly. Even very bad. It’s like missing the start of the Helsinki showdown… The nervousness was more obvious by the minute. Not that the Finns were much better, but it is true that the Slovenians made their job much easier. The hosts, especially on the flanks, were breaking through the opposition’s defence like a joke, and the midfield was also leaking like a broken funnel. If we were to write that what happened in 13. minute, predicted we wouldn’t have missed much. Miha Zajc made a bad save in front of his own penalty area and Finland had another attacking chance.
The ball went to the right wing, where Teemu Pukki received it and immediately sent it past the too anaemic Jure Balkovac in front of goal. David Brekalo missed, Joel Pohjanpalo got a shot off and … goal! 1:0 for the hosts.
Vid Belec also had a hand in the goal – it has to be admitted – as he made a bad save and allowed the ball to slip through his legs and into the net.
Fortunately, the painful blow has given Matjaz Kek’s squad a chance to recover. Slovenia started to play better after the goal and created a few chances to equalise, especially on the left wing. After a good break by Peter Stojanović, Benjamin Šeško hit the post with a bad shot (he missed the ball), and later, after a pass from Andraz Šporar, home defender Arttu Hoskonen blocked two dangerous shots in one action. Miha Zajc could have finished better too, when he had a shot from the edge of the penalty area. Slovenia could have equalised, they had their chances. But it didn’t work and the hosts went into the break with a one-goal advantage.
Slovenia sinned and got it again
In the second half, Slovenia twice came very close to drawing 1-1. First Andraž Šporar missed the target by a hair’s breadth, then the home captain Lukas Hradecky made a great save to keep out a good diagonal shot by Petr Stojanović. And whoever doesn’t… He gets it. Unfortunately, this was also the case this time. Finland increased their lead to 64. In the first minute, the young and very promising Oliver Antman got a diagonal shot past Balkovac. The Finnish player’s attempt was both accurate and powerful enough to beat Belec a second time.
Belec simply should have intervened better on the second goal, although it is true that Antman had too much space to shoot after Finland’s counter-attack. Balkovec could have taken a step closer to the Finnish player and maybe he wouldn’t have had such an open shot on goal…
After the second goal, the battle in Helsinki was more than lost. Slovenia also failed to beat Finland in their third attempt. And now the road to Germany is about to get even more complicated and challenging… Slovenia lost to an opponent with a clear goal – to play at the next European Championship… That makes the defeat all the more painful. But fortunately, the moment for the revision exam will soon arrive.
This text was automatically translated using AI.