Slovakia face Paraguay with Italy on their minds

BLOEMFONTEIN - Slovakia are desperate to win Sunday’s clash with Paraguay in Bloemfontein’s Free State Stadium because their last Group F game is against Italy.

Both teams go into the game level on points but Paraguay play outsiders New Zealand in their last match while Slovakia face the current World champions.

Paraguay earned praise for their 1-1 draw with Italy, in which they took a first half lead through Man of the Match Antolin Alcaraz.

Slovakia, in contrast, were heavily criticised by their own national press after they failed to beat New Zealand. The Slovaks have since vowed to overcome what was branded by one newspaper back home as their “moment of shame”.

“Against Paraguay it will be a completely different game,” defender Martin Skrtel said. “We have to learn from our mistakes,” the Liverpool player added, referring to the defensive lapse that led to Kiwi Winston Reid’s headed goal.

Slovakia expect Skrtel to show the solidity he displays in his English Premier League performances while the team will count on Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik delivering the creative input.

They are also hoping that Slovakia’s top scorer in the World Cup qualifiers, Stanislav Sestak, of Bochum, will find the target.

For their part Paraguay have rejected suggestions that they will fall for the temptation of sitting back and then seeking to strike on the break, safe in the knowledge that the Slovaks face the greater pressure to win.

“We won’t play for a draw,” Paraguay’s Argentinian coach Gerardo Martino said ahead of the Bloemfontein match.

Martino had good reason to be satisfied with the result against Italy, but he must be concerned about their ability to mount consistent attacks.

In Cape Town Paraguay managed just one shot on target against the Italians’ five.

The match in Bloemfontein marks the first-ever encounter between Paraguay and Slovakia, but many of the players will be familiar with each other from playing in Germany’s Bundesliga.

Three Paraguayans play for clubs in Germany’s top flight. Strikers Lucas Barrios and Nelson Valdez are at Borussia Dortmund and midfielder Jonathan Santana plays for Wolfsburg. Before his move Machester City forward Roque Santa Cruz played for Bayern Munich.

Besides Sestak, the four other Slovak Bundesliga-based players include forward Erik Jendrisek from Kaiserslautern as well as defenders, Jan Durica from Hannover 96, Radoslav Zabavnik from Mainz 05 and Peter Pekarik from Wolfsburg.

In Bloemfontein, both teams have one player who picked up a yellow card in their previous matches: Victor Caceres for Paraguay and Zdenko Strba for Slovakia.