We need help. I hope we'll have the right kind of energy. I won't repeat myself like a parrot. If our fans put 50 per cent of the energy they put into cheering for the Maribor team, it's enough for me. We're aware of the fact that Slovenia has never won against teams from Scandinavia before. If we take this into consideration, Norway is the favourite to win. Besides, they're a team that isn't exactly our cup of tea. But we'll try to improve the statistics.
The coach of the Slovenian national football team, Srečko Katanec, announced the list of the team members for the upcoming qualifier matches against Norway (11 Oct.) and Switzerland (15 Oct.) for the 2014 Football World Championship.
Slovenia will face the Norwegian team next Friday in Maribor (8.45 pm; judge Carlos Velasco Carballo from Spain), and will play against Switzerland in Bern four days later (8 pm; judge Björn Kuipers from the Netherlands).
Valter Birsa and Josip Iličić are among those not on the roster, since they're both injured. Compared to the matches against Albania and Cyprus in September, coach Katanec cannot rely on any help from Dominic Maroh and Željko Filipović. Dejan Lazarević, on the contrary, is returning to the team, and Katanec enlisted Nejc Pečnik again. The latter had already subsequently joined the team’s preparations for the two September matches.
Norway is struggling with some difficulties, too
The Norwegian team got a new coach last week. Egil Olsen was replaced by Per-Mathias Hoegmo. “This doesn’t mean anything new for me; we’ll see what it means for them. A new coach definitely brings something new to the team, new ideas. They still believe it’s possible for them to qualify to the world championship. The players will have an extra motive, since they’ll be coached by the same person in the next round of qualification and they’ll try to prove themselves to him. I know how the Norwegians play. It’s not nice to watch, but it’s hard to play against them. They don’t have a footballer who’d stand out in the technical sense. They don’t hold on to the ball much either. They throw the ball from the touchline towards the penalty area; they’re aggressive, strong, hard-working, and dangerous after the breaks in the game. If we’re not ‘on a par’ with them, it will be difficult for us. But they’re having their own set of problems. They’re slow in defence, they don’t have excellent ‘techies’, they’re
not extremely fast either,” says Katanec.
The team is meeting on Monday at 12.30 pm for preparations at the Brdo pri Kranju training centre, staying there until Wednesday and then moving to Maribor on Thursday. Around 600 supporters of the Norwegian team are expected to come to the Ljudski vrt stadium. All tickets (except for the family sector) cost 16 euros in presale until Sunday, and 20 euros from Monday on.
We need help. I hope we'll have the right kind of energy. I won't repeat myself like a parrot. If our fans put 50 per cent of the energy they put into cheering for the Maribor team, it's enough for me. We're aware of the fact that Slovenia has never won against teams from Scandinavia before. If we take this into consideration, Norway is the favourite to win. Besides, they're a team that isn't exactly our cup of tea. But we'll try to improve the statistics.
