Ukraine, Romania, Russia. Pavlin, Rudonja, Dedić: Slovenia is looking for a new hero, Slovenia is waiting for a new football fairy tale
Photo by Matic Klanšek Velej / Sportida
Ukraine, Romania, Russia and Kazakhstan. What do these countries have in common? They all come from Eastern Europe and were the last obstacle in the way of the Slovenian national team’s path to the big competitions. Well, at least Slovenia successfully skipped the first three, while Kazakhstan could join them tonight when they take on Matjaz Kek’s squad in the match of the decade in Stožice.
Miran Pavlin, Mladen Rudonja, Zlatko Dedić and …? Unusual as it may sound, Slovenia does not need a shooting hero tonight. Kek’s side would have been in the last qualifying match for the
Euro 2024
a goalless draw would have been enough. In this case, what could be described as a breakthrough could be
Eurogol
achieved by Adam Gnezda Čerin in Belfast. But we will all be much happier if there are a few shooters tonight and if the home team can dispel all doubts with a win. If it’s plentiful, all the better…
What is true is that tonight, when the clock strikes 15:00 to 09:00, time will stand still in the land on the sunny side of the Alps, just as it did in 1999, 2001 and 2009. After all, that was in 2015, but then the additional qualification for Euro 2016 ended in a miserable way, so we’ve completely repressed that memory.
Even if it doesn’t end in an all-Slovenian party, it will be hard to blame the team for anything, because the players at least exceeded expectations. Who would have thought a year and a half ago, after the debacle in Belgrade, that today we would be at the gates of football paradise? But no one thinks about failure. Not tonight. Monday is the day when dreams are allowed. Monday is the day for a new Slovenian football fairy tale.
This text was automatically translated using AI.
National Team
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