Preparing for just their second European Championship as an independent nation, with their other appearance coming in 2016, Slovakia will be keen to impress at Euro 2020. It will be an underdog story from the off for the Slovakians, that much is clear. In the aforementioned 2016 tournament, they made it out of the group in the third place play-offs before suffering a dismantling at the hands of Germany.<\/p>\n
They deserve plenty of credit, however, for reaching the Round of 16 in the first place having finishing third in a group containing England<\/a>, Russia and Wales. With another difficult group to overcome, Slovakia will be hoping to produce another respectable run.<\/p>\n The team at Last Word on Football has put together a country profile so that you can have the compete rundown ahead of the competition kicking off in June.<\/p>\n Appointed in October 2020, \u0160tefan Tarkovi\u010d will be desperate to showcase his managerial expertise with Slovakia at Euro 2020. Having been involved with the national team since 2013 out of the spotlight,\u00a0Tarkovi\u010d finally has the limelight transfixed onto him and his side; he has the chance to become a national hero.<\/p>\n He was always going to be the man for the job, too, having been the assistant manager in 2013, caretaker manager in 2018 and technical director in 2019. The 48-year-old is a fine example of how to work your way up the ranks. His managerial experience, as a whole, isn\u2019t extensive, to say the least and it was likely his expertise of the national team that landed him the job.<\/p>\n Tarkovi\u010d previously managed Slovakia first tier side MSK Zilina in the 12\/13 season, where he, most notably, managed current Slovakia and Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin\u00a0D\u00fabravka. He has also managed other Slovakian sides Tatran Presov and MFK Ko\u0161ice.<\/p>\n Manager \u0160tefan Tarkovi\u010d has named a squad<\/a> with some recognisable names across Europe\u2019s top six leagues, with players from the Bundesliga, Serie A and Premier League all involved.<\/p>\n Goalkeepers: <\/strong>Martin D\u00fabravka (Newcastle), Du\u0161an Kuciak (Lechia Gda\u0144sk), Marek Rod\u00e1k (Fulham)<\/p>\n Defenders: <\/strong>D\u00e1vid Hancko (Sparta Praha), Tom\u00e1\u0161 Hubo\u010dan (Omonoia), Martin Kosceln\u00edk (Liberec), Peter Pekar\u00edk (Hertha Berlin), \u013dubom\u00edr \u0160atka (Lech Pozna\u0144), Milan \u0160kriniar (Inter Milan), Martin Valjent (Mallorca), Denis Vavro (Huesca)<\/p>\n Midfielders:<\/strong> L\u00e1szl\u00f3 B\u00e9nes (Augsburg), Ondrej Duda (K\u00f6ln), J\u00e1n Gregu\u0161 (Minnesota), Marek Ham\u0161\u00edk (IFK G\u00f6teborg), Luk\u00e1\u0161 Harasl\u00edn (Sassuolo), Jakub Hromada (Slavia Praha), Patrik Hro\u0161ovsk\u00fd (Genk), Juraj Kucka (Parma), Stanislav Lobotka (Napoli), Tom\u00e1\u0161 Suslov (Groningen), Vladim\u00edr Weiss (Slovan Bratislava)<\/p>\n Forwards:<\/strong> R\u00f3bert Bo\u017een\u00edk (Feyenoord), Michal \u010euri\u0161 (Omonoia), R\u00f3bert Mak (Ferencv\u00e1ros), Ivan Schranz (Jablonec)<\/p>\n With D\u00fabravka in goal and Milan \u0160kriniar, Slovakia\u2019s best option may well be to sit back, absorb pressure before hitting on the break. In their final warm-up game before Euro 2020 against Austria, in which they drew 0-0, counter attacking play seemed the order of the day.<\/p>\n D\u00fabravka made saves aplenty before Slovakia launched lethal counter attacks that lacked the final touch. The point is, however, they were as quick as ever in transition and caused havoc at times for Austria. It would come as no surprise to see them catch a few teams out in similar fashion come the group stages.<\/p>\n Their best chance going forward comes in the form of Ivan Schranz, who scored 16 goals in all competitions for FK Jablonec in the season just gone. If Slovakia can absorb any pressure before finding Schranz, we may well see some upsets come the group stages.<\/p>\n In Slovakia\u2019s group for Euro 2020 is Spain, Sweden and Poland. Their best hope of a win seems to be against Sweden, who will be without Zlatan Ibrahimovic.<\/a> Games against Spain and Poland will likely prove to be difficult. Poland, led by goal machine Robert Lewandowski, could crack the stubborn Slovakian defence. As for Spain, they\u2019ll be hoping to avoid any upsets and progress with relative ease.<\/p>\n Slovakia begin the competition against Poland on June 14 before facing Sweden four days later and concluding the group stages against Spain on June 24. The run-in is certainly a favourable one, especially if they can take a point against Poland before the winnable game against Sweden.<\/p>\n Poland<\/a> v Slovakia – June 14, 5pm BST<\/p>\n Sweden v Slovakia – June 18, 2pm BST<\/p>\n Slovakia v Spain<\/a> – June 24, 5pm BST<\/p>\n Main PhotoEverything You Need to Know About Slovakia Ahead of Euro 2020<\/h2>\n
Who is the Slovakia Coach?<\/h3>\n
Who Has Been Selected for the Slovakia Euro 2020 Squad?<\/h3>\n
Star Players<\/h3>\n
Group Stage Fixtures<\/h3>\n
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>