Watch Slovakia vs Republic Of Ireland european championship live
It's a three way tie at the moment in group B with Ireland, Russia and Slovakia all neck and neck trying to make some distance between themselves and the rest of the teams in the group, because of this each of the teams results are vital at the moment and the winner of this match will severely dent the losers morale and momentum. Ireland and Slovakia both won their first two matches but were seen slipping up in their last match both teams losing which makes the stakes really high in who outmuscles the other team in tonight's matchup in Slovakia.
Slovakia began their play in Group C by getting back to back 1-0 victories over Macedonia and a proud win in Russia. They had a shock to the system last Friday, going down 3-1 to a team not in the same league of quality as them in Armenia. That result is sure to give them a wake up call and warning to keep up their high level of performance no matter how lowly their opponents are on paper. More bad tidings for the Slovakians is that much revered Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel got a yellow card for his troubles last Friday and so will miss this match through suspension and Miroslav Stoch will also have to sit it out with an injury. Slovakian boss said of these downturns in events “Bad news, but we have to accept it,”.
Ireland also started with 2 wins a row over Armenia and Andorra before crashing to their opponents Russia last Friday in a 3-2 defeat. What was encouraging for the Irish is that they fought back from 3-0 down to pull it back to 3-2 with goals from Robbie Keane and Shane Long and gave them a chance of getting a point from the game they were unfortunately not able to take but the fighting spirit from Trappatoni's players will be sure to give him some satisfaction. For the Ireland team news is that Aston Villa defender Richard Dunne might be able to comeback from a knee injury and make an appearance in defence.
An important player for Ireland in this tie will be goalkeeper Shay Given. The Manchester City stopper has been at the heart of Ireland's winning campaigns over recent years by stopping threats on their goal at vital times in games and he will need to be sharp in Slovakia if Ireland are hoping to grab 3 points from the match.
A Slovakian player that should be handful tonight is the winger and son of the coach, Vladimir Weiss. The crafty winger can be a real magician in creating chances and has been impressing lately in matches fro Glasgow Rangers. With forward Stoch out, more should be required from the midfield and attack to provide a threat and it is Weiss' chance to take centre stage.
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