Slovakiavs.San Marino

Francesco Calzona's troops are aiming to build some momentum ahead of Euro 2024, while San Marino will do their utmost to keep the contest competitive for as long as possible.

Match preview

After missing out on the 2022 World Cup, Slovakia are preparing to return to a major tournament following a successful Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.

The Falcons won seven and drew one of their 10 qualifying matches to secure second spot, with their only two defeats taking place against Group J winners Portugal.

Slovakia are now set to make a third consecutive appearance at the European Championships after reaching the round of 16 in the 2016 tournament before suffering a group-stage exit in Euro 2020.

Their primary focus will be on progressing from a group that contains Belgium, Romania and Ukraine, but first, they will look to pick up a couple of positive results in friendlies against San Marino and Wales.

Calzona may be relieved to have the chance to throw his full energy into his role as Slovakia's head coach, having spent the last three to four months sharing his duties to work as Napoli's head coach until the end of the season.

The 55-year-old will certainly be confident his side will return to winning ways against San Marino after losing to Austria and drawing against Norway during the March international period.

As FIFA's lowest-ranked side, it was unsurprisingly to see San Marino finish bottom of their qualifying group without a point to their name.

However, the minnows have shown glimpses of promise in recent times, scoring in their final three qualifiers against Denmark, Kazakhstan and Finland, representing the first time they had netted in three consecutive matches.

They then went on to trouble the scorers in a 3-1 loss to St. Kitts and Nevis, before they held the same country to a goalless draw just four days later.

That result ended a run of 12 straight defeats as San Marino celebrated their first shutout since keeping a clean sheet against Seychelles on September 2022.

Another clean sheet on Wednesday seems highly improbable, but they will be keen to offer greater resilience than in their previous meeting with Slovakia in June 2009 when they shipped seven goals without reply.

Slovakia friendly form:

L

D

Slovakia form (all competitions):

L

W

W

W

L

D

San Marino friendly form:

L

D

San Marino form (all competitions):

L

L

L

L

L

D

Team News

With Slovakia set to face a tougher test in Saturday's friendly with Wales, Calzona may take the opportunity to try out some fringe players in Wednesday's game as he continues to mull over his final squad for Euro 2024.

Marek Rodak could be given the opportunity to start in goal, while the likes of Michal Tomic, Vernon De Marco and Adam Obert may be presented with the chance to line up in defence.

Fresh from winning the Bundesliga relegation playoff with Bochum, midfielder Matus Bero may get the opportunity to make his first international appearance since September 2023.

As for San Marino, Rimini goalkeeper Edoardo Colombo is set to start after earning his first two international caps against St. Kitts and Nevis.

Roberto Cevoli is expected to line up with a back five of Alessandro D'Addario, Michele Cevoli, Filippo Fabbri, Dante Rossi and Alessandro Tosi.

While Slovakia are expected to dominate possession, Filippo Berardi represents one of San Marino's main attacking outlets after scoring his country's most recent goal in the March international window.

Slovakia possible starting lineup:

Rodak; Tomic, Gyomber, Obert, De Marco; Bero, Hrosovsky, Benes; Duris, Haraslin, Bozenik

San Marino possible starting lineup:

Colombo; D'Addario, Cevoli, Fabbri, Rossi, Tosi; Berardi, Capicchioni, Golinucci, Contadini; Nanni

We say: Slovakia 3-0 San Marino

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