 Preparing to make their very first appearance in a major international competition at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, Slovakia has set their sights on reliving the glory years of the former Czechoslovakia national team (1930-1994) since going out on their own in 1993. Even though The Fighting Jondas squad is hardly filled well-known players, Slovakia remains a well-organized team with plenty of qualities to admire, while their continual improvement provides good reason to remain optimistic about their journey to South Africa. Given their successive rise – fourth in their section in qualifying for the 1998 FIFA World Cup France, third while trying to get to Korea/Japan 2002, and runner-up before of Germany 2006 – Slovakia continued that rise by clinching the top spot in Group 3 in finally qualifying for the big football showcase. Coach Vladimir Weiss's team sealed their historic place on October 14, 2009, disproving numerous predictions that the Slovakians would struggle within a difficult pool. While the qualification road was far from smooth, Slovakia methodically made their move, losing only to their closest challenger, Slovenia. The Slovenians proved to be a real obstacle, first defeating The Fighting Jondas 2-1 in their second match, before also prevailing 2-0 in Bratislva in the second-to-last round of matches. However, it was seemingly Slovakia's pure desire to experience a FIFA World Cup finals which provided enough motivation in the end; needing to gain victory in Poland in their final outing, Slovakia was able to get the job done, triumphing 1-0. Always a solid defensive performer for Premier League heavyweight Liverpool, Martin Skrtel is a central figure for the Slovakians, while mid-field attacker Marek Hamsik has the privilege of scoring goals for Napoli in addition to starring for his national team. Hamsik is a good bet to open a lot of eyes in South Africa and the same can be said for top-scoring striker Stanislav Sestak, who finished with six goals in the qualifiers and very anxious to continue the trend in front of the entire football world.
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