Slovakia-Azerbaijan is a match valid for the fifth day of the Nations League and is scheduled for Thursday at 20:45
SLOVAKIA – AZERBAIJAN
Leading Group 3 of League C by surprise is Kazakhstan, who are very close to securing a promotion to League B that would be historic. The Kazakhs are top of the table with 10 points, four more than second-placed Slovakia, and in the event of a win over Belarus, the game would be all but over. Skriniar and his teammates still have some residual chance of a comeback but are not the architects of their own destiny. As well as hoping for an unlikely breakthrough by the Belarusians, they are obliged to beat Azerbaijan, who were already beaten with minimal effort on 10 June thanks to former Pescara player Weiss.
Slovakia will therefore try everything to keep believing in first place. It is unacceptable for a selection that includes the likes of the aforementioned Skriniar (but also Gyomber, Lobotka and Kucka, to name just three who play or have played in the Italian league) to lose to teams like Kazakhstan, who in June got the better of the Slav national team twice in the space of a few days. A few weeks ago, meanwhile, the federation officially set a new course with the appointment of Italian Francesco Calzona, a ‘pupil’ of Sarri and Spalletti, among others, as technical commissioner.
Calzona will be making his debut with one of his compatriots: the experienced Gianni De Biasi has been at the helm of Azerbaijan for several months and has been called upon to replicate the progress made years ago with the Albanian national team. On the final day of the Nations League, the Azerbaijanis won the relegation clash with Belarus (2-0), but they are only two points up and cannot yet sleep soundly.
Gianni De Biasi
The Prediction
Slovakia have no choice but to win and hope Kazakhstan do not. There is curiosity, meanwhile, to see what impact the arrival of the new selector has had. He should make his debut with a victory, probably even keeping his goal inviolate as in the first leg. Azerbaijan, in fact, have huge problems in the scoring phase.
Slovakia v Azerbaijan
- SLOVAKIA (5-3-2): Rodak; Pekarik, Gyomber, Skriniar, Hancko, De Marco; Kucka, Lobotka, Hrosovsky; Jirka, Bozenik.
- AZERBAIGIAN (3-5-2): Mehemmedeliyev; C. Huseynov, Mustafazada, Guseynov; A. Huseynov, Makhmudov, Pascual, Almeida, Salahli; Dadashov, Sheydayev.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-0