SLOVAK coach Jan Kozak has called on his players to make tonight’s Group F Hampden ‘showdown’ against Scotland a night to remember.
While Scotland’s qualification equation is still in the hands of Gordon Strachan’s side - back-to-back wins against the Slovaks and Slovenians in Ljubljana on Sunday will be enough for second place and almost certainly a play-off place - Kozak knows it is his side who hold all the aces.
Assuming England take care of Slovenia at Wembley tonight, he knows a victory at Hampden would be sufficient to book a play-off place and even a draw would leave them sitting pretty, a point clear of Scotland with only little Malta in Trnava to follow on Sunday evening
While Kozak accepts that Scotland are a changed team from the one which went down 3-0 in Trnava 12 months ago, he said he wouldn’t change his style and Slovakia - a side good enough to reach the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2016 - had arrived in Glasgow to put on a show against the Scots.
“If you have followed us for some time, you will have seen that we try to impose our game on the play, without having consideration for the opponent,” said Kozak. “Tomorrow will really be a showdown, we want to show what we are capable of.
“Thank God for these type of games, that we still have this chance after a very poor start to the campaign,” he added. “These are the games you need to be excited about.
“Perhaps you have played 200 matches, 300 games in the league and you don’t remember them.
“These are the games you will remember, only whether they are good memories or bad memories depends on your performance.”
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