SLOVENIA has been celebrating for weeks after qualifying for the Euros for the first time in 24 years – but the qualifiers seem a world away.
Never in their history have they escaped the group stage of a major tournament, winning just one of their nine games at that stage – a 1-0 victory over Algeria at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
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That year they also formed a group with England and narrowly missed out on reaching the last 16 thanks to a narrow defeat to Fabio Capello’s Three Lions.
The Slovenes will seek revenge against England on June 25th.
Coach: Matjaz Kek
In his second spell as coach and in charge since 2018 – he only lost two qualifying games, despite having to overcome the death of his father.
Key man: Jan Oblak
A reliable figure between the sticks for Atlético de Madrid and his country, Oblak is one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
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Probable lineup
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How they attack
Under Kek, we expect to see Slovenia playing 4-4-2 or 4-2-4.
They are typically well structured as they build their attack, with the wide forwards remaining on the outside when the ball is deep and one of the two midfielders dropping deep towards the ball.
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Slovenia develops with the two forwards positioned relatively close to each other in attack.
The defenders and full-backs along with one of the midfielders are positioned to help advance the ball.
In attack, when Slovenia advance and play in the opposition’s midfield, it is not uncommon to see the two wide players come in to play in narrow attacking positions.
In doing so, they almost end up playing with two advanced midfielders behind the two strikers.
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When Slovenia attack, they narrow their shape in the opponent’s midfield, with more players in the channel or in central spaces, as they look to overload.
While Slovenia may be structured in the way they build their attack, they also have a significant counter-attacking threat through RB Leipzig and Arsenal’s Benjamin Sesko.
He is extremely fast and if the opponent is too high against the ball, Slovenia can advance.
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As Slovenia regains possession, their two forwards face 2v2 against the opposing defenders. A simple pass is enough to free the attacker to score.
How do they defend
In defense, Slovenia is not a team that presses high.
Instead, they will go into a deeper defensive block against the ball in a 4-4-2.
The idea is to make it difficult for the opponent to act through them.
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Slovenia’s defensive block against Portugal seeks to prevent the opponent from being able to play in the spaces between the defensive and midfield lines.
As the opponent moves into their half of the field on the flanks, we tend to see Slovenia try to slide their defensive block across the field.
They are quick to move and support their teammates and deny space to the opponent.
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Again in the game against Portugal, Slovenia slips and denies space to the opponent.
Even when trying to grow more slowly, the Slovenian team refuses to press high against the ball.
They will maintain a medium to deep defensive block and their attackers will remain disciplined not to press.
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As Denmark has a lot of possession, their defenders try to push Slovenia away to create space. Instead, the Slovenian forwards hold their position deep and refuse to press.
Prediction
Slovenia is tipped to finish bottom of the group due to the lack of quality in its squad.
However, they are perhaps being underestimated after finishing top of qualifying Group H with Denmark, who are expected to reach the knockout stages with England.
Furthermore, Slovenia beat Portugal 2-0 in a friendly in March.
If Oblak and Sesko are in good form, they will think they can pass second or as one of the best third-placed teams.
Latest odds
William Colina have the Slovenes as outsiders at 200/1 – only Albania, Slovakia and Georgia have longer odds.
But they are 7/4 to reach the knockout stages.
Glam Shake
Oblak reportedly started dating Serbian tennis player Olga Danilovic.
She reached the fourth round of the French Open this year and has a career title to her name.
And defender Miha Blazic recently married influencer Weronika, who has 108 thousand followers on Instagram.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
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