Slovakia

The Slovakians campaign had been described as a ‘miracle’ by the press but the side have impressed during the tournament and reached the knockout stages thanks to a 3-2 win against World Champions Italy.

Two goals from Robert Vittek and a Kamil Kopúnek a helped the Slovakians to a 3-2 victory to send the Slovakians through to the knockout rounds in their first World Cup finals.

“We didn’t have anything to lose because no one expected us to beat Italy, they had all the pressure,” said midfielder Mioslav Stoch, who plies his club trade with Turkish giants Fenerbahce.

“It will be similar against the Dutch because they have to win, they are expected to, and the pressure will be on them.

“Whereas we again will have nothing to lose. Nobody expected us to go through then and no one expects us to now.”

The Slovaks now go on to face a Dutch team who have been highly impressive during the Group stages, comfortably winning all three of their games and Slovakia coach Vladimir Weiss acknowledges that his side are truly up against it as they face a side with some of the best players in the world.

“The Dutch are a fantastic team,” he said. “They have a lot of players who play in the best club teams in the world, and with good coaches.

“They are one of the favourites in the tournament but you never know. It is like when we played against Italy, we have a good spirit and we must impress.”

“The favourites are the Dutch, like the Italians were, but you never know. We’ll see,” he added.

Slovakia’s fate may lay at the feet of playmaker Marek Hamsik who is integral to the Slovakians play and is their one truly top-class player.

Hamsik set-up two of Slovakia’s goals against Italy and is now set for a move to one of Europe’s top clubs.

He currently plays for Napoli in Serie A and last season steered them to sixth place in Serie A as well as pitching in with 12 goals. (Hamsik 15/1 to score the first goal).

“He’s a world-class player,” said Weiss. “He’s always put in great performances wherever I’ve positioned him, and it’s for all those reasons that I decided to make him captain.”

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Didier Drogba

The 32-year-old picked up an injury in the Mighty Elephants’ warm-up game against Japan after a clash with Tulio. However, his presence is seen as essential to the Ivory Coast’s chances of progressing in the tournament from the ‘Group of Death’ that also includes Brazil, Portugal and North Korea (10/11 to qualify from Group G).

Drogba is seen as the leading light in what is being called the “Mighty Elephants’ Golden Generation” and says that people back home expect them to be able to compete with the top teams.

“The expectation back home is so high, higher than England,” he said.

“Most of our players play for big teams and have won things with big teams. But for the country we have won nothing.”

Ivory Coast go into the tournament with stars such as Solomon Kalou, the Toure brothers and Emmaunel Eboue, and after achieving so much as individuals, the players are now targeting the World Cup as their first chance of International silverware (Ivory Coast 50/1 to win the tournament).

Drogba also believes that the addition of Sven-Goran Eriksson as coach will be a deciding factor in whether or not the Ivory Coast have a successful campaign. Eriksson, who guided England to the quarter-finals in both 2002 and 2006, replaced Vahid Halilhodzic who was sacked in January after a disappointing African Cup of Nations and Drogba believes that the experienced Swede could be the difference between success and failure.

“Eriksson is one of the best managers on the market and has done a lot of good things with the England national team,” added Drogba in an interview on BBC World Service.

“He is a very good professional and with his experience I hope we can beat one or two big teams at the World Cup.

“He knows there is a lot of work to do, that’s why he started very quickly when he got the job.”

The Ivory Coast open their campaign on June 15 against Portugal in Port Elizabeth. They then meet Brazil in Johannesburg and face North Korea in their final group game in Durban.

Kolo Toure, who is set to deputise as skipper in Drogba’s absence, says he couldn’t agree more with the striker’s opinion.

“He’s a top-class manager, one of the best in the world. We have a big chance and a great manager. We might be considered outsiders but we can make it.”

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Capello had an outstanding qualifying campaign for the World Cup, and England go into the tournament rated as third favourites at 6/1 to win the trophy, behind Spain at 4/1 and five-time winners Brazil at 5/1.

But he said that one of the biggest frustrations he has encountered is not being able to work with his players more often.

“Obviously, it’s a very different job being a national manager rather than a club manager,” he said.

“The pressure is bigger as England manager because behind the national manager and the team you have the country. The country expects a lot and the fans believe a lot in the team.”

He added: “As a club manager you can work with your players every day, you can train to improve and study what happened and why in between each game and you can usually rectify things quickly.

“As England manager, I can do a lot of in-depth preparation and then there’s an injury and everything I have prepared is for nothing.”

The 63-year-old Italian said: “For me, the World Cup is a really big challenge. I think England are one of the best teams in the world and we can win against anyone.

“My approach to the World Cup is relaxed now. I have to study the other countries we will be playing against and hope that everything we are preparing will be ready for the tournament.”

One of his major concerns is the “quality of the pitches” in South Africa, Capello said, which is why he has been so obsessive about England’s training facilities in Rustenburg, before adding: “But my most important hope is that all of my best players will be injury-free and available to play in the World Cup.”

That hope is currently being tested, not least with first-choice midfielder Gareth Barry struggling to recover in time from an ankle injury.

Capello, in an interview with The Manager magazine, reiterated his belief that Wayne Rooney (10/1 to finish as the tournament’s top goalscorer) is “one of the best players in the world” and, once again, compared him to the Spanish striker Raúl, who he coached during his two spells in charge of Real, in terms of his influence.

“Wayne Rooney is one of the best talents I have ever coached,” the Italian added.

“He’s like Raúl, in that he’s a very important player and a big talent. Every time Rooney trains he wants to learn and he always wants to stay on that training pitch for as long as possible.

“It’s really important that the other players see that Rooney, one of the best players in the world, wants to stay on the pitch and wants to continue to learn.”

It’s a process that Capello, also, continues to undertake and he offered an insight into his own managerial philosophy.

“Instinct does play a part but you also have to be able to understand your players,” he said. “When your players are all in good form it is easy but you have to realise this is not always going to be the case.

“You have to be able to react when they lose form and make changes during a game and even during training sessions.”

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