After the glories of the last World Cup in South Africa, the Slovak national team came back to Earth to win with difficulty against Macedonia in the qualifier for the European Championships in 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.
Placed in Group B along with Russia, Ireland, Macedonia, Armenia and Andorra, the Slovaks finally got victory only in the final minutes through striker Holosko.
The program was inaugurated by the group match between Armenia and Ireland, which the Irish claimed at just 1-0 and the 2-0 success of Russia over Andorra with two goals from Pogrebnyak.
The victory on Friday evening was crucial for the Slovaks to get three important points and emphasise the value of the team as a favourite to qualify for Euro 2012.
Slovakia – Macedonia 1:0 (0:0)
Goals: 90 ‘Holosko – Yellow: 81’ Skrtel – 54 ‘Despotovski, 66’ Handy 78 ‘Nuredinoski – Red Card: 85’ Smart (Maced.) – Referee: Circhetta – Hidber, Helbling (Switzerland) – Attendance: 5980
Slovakia team: Mucha – Pekarík (90′ Sylvestr), Skrtel, Saláta (76′ Kucka) Hubočan – Štrba – Weiss (61′ Jendrišek), Hamsik, Sapara, Stoch- Hološko
Macedonia team: Nuredinoski – Handy, I. Mitreski, Noveski, G. Popov – Despotovski (73′ Lazevski), Georgievski, Šumulikoski, Tričkovski (80′ Grncar) – Pandev, Naumoski (61′ Ristič)
Report by Lorenzo di Cicco (La Voce della slovacchia)