Lukas Vrablik’s Slovakia v Spain preview: Marek Hamsik will be decisive for Slovakia’s success
Our Matchday Squad journalist will be covering Slovakia throughout Euro 2020
Group E is going into a dramatic end, with all four teams having a chance to get into the next round. Slovakia were very close to earning a point against Sweden, which would have helped to push them to the brink of the Round of 16, but an Emil Forsberg penalty became decisive.
Slovakia were criticized for their passive play against Sweden, as they relied on a packed defence and didn’t show much in the attack. A 4-6-0 formation is not likely to change against Spain, the group’s favourites who couldn’t win neither against Sweden nor Poland.
Spain are going to be heavily motivated to beat Slovakia, the group’s outsider, but the coach Stefan Tarkovic repeated that he believed in his players and analysed how other teams were able to stop Spain.
Marek Hamsik will again be decisive for Slovakia’s success. Against Sweden, he got substituted after 77 minutes as he was too tired to continue, but his strength in set-pieces could be important in Slovakia’s third game. Tarkovic might not change his line-up much compared to previous games and another hard-fought battle is surely coming.
It will be very hard but I think Slovakia will surprisingly win 1-0 and crawl into the Round of 16.
