After beating Ukraine away in the opening fixture, the Slovak men’s football team have excelled themselves once more by beating the current European champions in their second qualifier for Euro 2016.
Iker Casillas misjudged midfielder Juraj Kucka's 27 metre free-kick as the hosts took the lead in the Euro 2016 Group C clash. Substitute striker Paco Alcacer equalised for Spain with a composed low finish from close range, and it looked like the match would go the visitors’ way. But winger Miroslav Stoch won it with a close-range far post header after a cross by Michal Duriš while on the counter attack from the relentless Spanish attacks.
One of Slovakia’s heroes on the night was goalkeeper Matúš Kozáčik, and we can talk to him now as our RSI colleague Peter Sabaček was at the game.
This is a great feeling, and I know that we, I mean players and coaching staff, will enjoy this moment massively. We have just beaten one of the best football teams in the world so it is an amazing achievement. When it is going for you, and you achieve a great result, you can think or say that it was easy, but this came from great team collectiveness and hard work. We beat a team of great players, who have shown over and over whether it is for their clubs or for their nations, and I am sure they will be great again. The return leg in Spain will be a totally different match.
He also got a few words from the head coach of the Spanish men’s national team Vicente del Bosque.
We were pulling a long cord of matches without a loss in qualifying, I think that, overall, there were 28 matches. Today we deserved more than this, however, we were defeated, but the Slovaks were playing their best football today and have had their day. They were very confident in the defence. We didn't know enough how to move closer to their goal. And their counterattacks were excellent. Unfortunately, we have not reached even to the point that would allow us to say we should have won the match.
Slovakia next play Belarus in Minsk.
