The last minute of added time was running. The Slovaks intensified the onslaught, but the Maltese defended heroically.
After the win over Finland in November, the 162nd FIFA ranking team was close to another valuable result. The match between Slovakia and Malta was tied in the 94th minute.
Finally, an old coach Slovak national team Vladimír Weiss made his debut with a victory. Roland Galčík, one of the eight debutants, scored in the last action of the match and Slovakia beat Malta 2:1.
Shooter to the hospital
“It was a tough win. I didn’t really enjoy the game. We didn’t convert chances and I was nervous,” Weiss admitted.
The Slovaks quickly took the lead thanks to Lukáš Haraslín, but no further goals came. “Especially David Strelec’s chance was crucial when he could make it 2-0,” noted the coach.
VIDEO: Coach V. Weiss senior. after the win over Malta
After all, the Middlesbrough striker didn’t even finish the first half. “He wasn’t quite fit, but he wanted to play. He felt sick during the game and went to the hospital for a checkup,” explained Weiss.
The Slovaks have another match in Košice with Montenegro on Friday. If Strelec is not available, the coach considers donating another striker.
Although Malta belongs to the football dwarfs, the visitors showed several good things in the match. Several times, with a nice combination, they reached the last 16, and finally Joseph Mbong equalized.
In the second half, the Slovaks clearly had more of the game, but they did not score a goal for a long time.
“Today, everyone knows how to play football. It would be a shame if we didn’t win. I’m glad that the team showed character. The players brought a turnaround in the second half,” said Weiss.
The winning goal was scored by Roland Galčík, for whom it was a dream debut.
“He saved us. I’ve already seen the headlines in the papers,” the coach remarked half jokingly, half seriously.
Pavek gave himself a nice present
As many as eight players made their first representative start in the meeting. Dominik Takáč, Hugo Pavek and Peter Pokorný started in the starting line-up, and Peter Kováčik, Artur Gajdoš, Michal Faško, Krisztián Bari and Roland Galčík also got on the pitch.
All of them work in domestic clubs. “Nike league has its own quality. I tried to pick the best players from it,” Weiss underlined.
“My eyes are open, I will map players and go to clubs,” he added.
“The players were very concentrated. It’s not easy to play for the national team, especially for the first time,” emphasized the coach.
According to him, the best players on the field were Adam Obert and Hugo Pavek. “Pavek blew me away with his confidence. He gave himself a birthday present with his performance. The emotion must have been strong for him,” Weiss concluded.
Pavek will turn 21 on Tuesday. Already in his debut, he showed that he can be a real alternative on the right side of the defense instead of Petr Pekarík, who will end his national team career on Friday in Košice.
Excellent background
The Slovak national football team played for the first time in Dunajská Streda. There were almost six thousand people in the audience.
During his playing career, Weiss played for DAC, and before his arrival in Slovan Bratislava, he was also linked with a club from Žitné ostrov.
In the end, he really presented himself in the MOL Arena as a home coach – on the bench of the national team.
“I kind of messed around here, I went the other way,” Weiss admitted with a laugh.
“It is a stadium where I would like to play matches in the future as well. We can’t always play in Slovan, in Trnava or in the east. And here is everything – a fantastic lawn, excellent facilities, nice people. I feel good here, I have friends here,” underlined the national team coach.
