Why didn’t Petar Stojanović and Andraž Šporar play? Key national team players only on the bench in Copenhagen, Matjaž Kek explains why
Photo: Vid Ponikvar / Sportida
Petar Stojanović and Andraž Šporar are, without the slightest doubt, among those footballers who have qualified for the Euro 2024 left a very, very good mark on the Slovenian jersey. That’s why many people looked in amazement when Slovenia’s strike line-up for the penultimate game on the road against Germany was announced an hour before the game in Copenhagen.
Both Petar Stojanović and Andraž Šporar were on the bench for the full 90 minutes. Opinions on whether the move by selector Matjaz Kek was the right one or not. Above all, it begs the question: why did Mariborčan make this decision? Because he didn’t believe in a win against Denmark? Because he bet everything on a showdown with Kazakhstan?
“It is clear that you cannot keep saying all week that we are going to Copenhagen to lose. If anyone imagined that Slovenia would have more possession of the ball in the Parken and that we would dictate the rhythm, they were wrong. It’s clear that you suffer here, the aggression and the rhythm of the game is at an extremely high level. We have not been able to stand up to them. In addition, individual quality is assessed. We also got two stupid goals,” said Matjaž Kek after the 1:2 defeat and went on to talk about the personnel changes. Let’s recall that instead of Stojanović and Šporar, Benjamin Verbič and Žan Vipotnik were given the chance from the start.
“After the second goal, when you know you have to give two to turn it around, you could see that some players were falling. Erik Janža and Timi Max Elšnik haven’t played much for the club lately, so some of the decisions were logical. Not because we were thinking about Kazakhstan, the rhythm was just too fast. In the case of Elšnik, it was evident that he had fallen drastically, including Janža. I didn’t include those who were half ready in the starting 11, even though they could have played with painkillers. But we judged the risk to be too high. We didn’t want to waste Stojanović like that, not only because he was at risk of being sent off for cards. Šporar was not feeling well either. But I think Vipotnik, who replaced him, played a good game,” added Matjaž Kek after the defeat in northern Europe.
This text was automatically translated using AI.
Author: editorial Football Planet
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