Slovakia-Luxembourg is a match on the first day of Euro 2024 qualifying Group J and is played on Thursday at 20:45: tv, predictions.
Marek Hamsik’s Slovakia have started again with an Italian coach, from Calabria to be exact. The former Napoli midfielder – now at Trabzonspor in Turkey – is still the lighthouse of this selection despite being 35 years old. He is Francesco Calzona, former collaborator of that Maurizio Sarri that ‘Marekiaro’ knows very well, given the long experience of the Tuscan coach on the bench of the Neapolitan club.
This is the first non-Slovak coach at the helm of the Sokoli: he has already made his debut in the two November friendlies against Montenegro and Chile, both of which ended in draws. The last time Slovakia won was last June, when they got the better of Azerbaijan by a narrow margin. But it was a success that was of little use, as Hamsik and his team-mates finished as high as third in League C, despite being the top-ranked team, the one that should have gained promotion in advance against the likes of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Belarus. Instead, it was a total failure. The qualifying round for Euro 2024 is not an irresistible one: of course, there is Portugal, but the other teams seem to be within the reach of Slovakia, who will probably compete for the second place with Bosnia and Iceland.
Beware, however, of a national team that has made great strides in recent times, such as Luc Holtz’s Luxembourg. Thanks in part to several naturalised players, the Grand Duchy’s selection has been on the rise for years now, as evidenced by their excellent placing in the last Nations League, in which they came close to a resounding promotion by standing up to the more highly-rated Turkey. Some consider it the possible outsider of Group J and it is quite likely that it will do more than one.
Luxembourg players’ jubilation
The prediction
Slovakia have prevailed in four of their previous five matches, all of which ended with more than three goals in total. They are slight favourites, but Luxembourg should give them a run for their money and Skriniar’s likely absence makes the defence more vulnerable, so it is not out of the question that the visitors will score at least one goal.
The likely Slovakia-Luxembourg line-up
- SLOVAKIA (4-3-3): Dubravka; Petarik, Hancko, Skriniar, Obert; Hrosovsky, Lobotka, Benes; Suslov, Bozenik, Duda.
- LUSSEMBOURG (4-4-2): Moris; Jans, Chanot, Mahmutovic, Pinto; V. Thill, Olesen, Barreiro, Sanches; Sinani, Rodrigues.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
