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- Ondrej Duda tells Mail Sport plenty of details about his Slovakia team-mates
- Who can cause trouble for England? Who are the dressing room entertainers?
- LISTEN to It’s All Kicking Off! EUROS DAILY: Why a wave of negativity is sweeping through England’s rivals
You’d be forgiven if you didn’t know much about Slovakia’s squad.
Alright, you’ll likely know Martin Dubravka if you watch the Premier League, but the Peter Pekariks and David Strelecs of this world are no household names in England.
The Three Lions take on Slovakia on Sunday and Mail Sport was granted an exclusive interview with one of their midfielders, Ondrej Duda.
Duda, who played for Norwich in the 2019-20 season, has spilled the details on the personalities behind the players you’ll see on Sunday.
Who can cause trouble for England? Who are the big jokers? And who is the Slovakian equivalent of Ben White, hardly watching football?
Slovakia star Ondrej Duda has exclusively told Mail Sport about his international team-mates
England take on Slovakia in the last 16 of Euro 2024 on Sunday, facing a side who have never made it to the quarter-finals
Martin Dubravka – Every keeper I’ve met in my career is an unusual character – in their own world! He’s a funny guy and one of our most important players. He’s achieved a lot in his career and has plenty of experience from the Premier League. We’re very happy to have him.
Peter Pekarik – His mentality and passion for football are amazing. If I get to 37 and still feel this way about football, I’ll be very happy with myself! Even on days off he’ll be in the gym and doing his recovery work and he’s at the Euros despite not always playing regularly for Hertha Berlin. I use him an example for our young players.
Denis Vavro – He was once quoted as saying he didn’t watch much football when he doesn’t have to – but that’s fine. Sometimes it’s better for the mental side of the game to keep your job away from your personal life. But I should add we’ve watched every game of the tournament together as a squad and he’s been in the room most of the time!
Milan Skriniar – Sometimes we play card games in our down time and he and our midfielder Patrik Hrosovsky seem to win all the time. He’s played for two of the biggest clubs in Europe in Inter Milan and Paris St Germain but I’ve known him all my career and he’s a normal, humble guy in the squad. Always laughing, always joking.
Martin Dubravka has achieved a lot in his career and brings good Premier League experience
Captain Milan Skriniar is funny and humble despite having played for Inter Milan and PSG
David Hancko – After the Euros he has an excellent chance to go to a very big club. He has huge potential and he’s also crucial for our national team. He can play both at left-back and as a left central defender so he’s very versatile and has an important future ahead of him.
Juraj Kucka – He likes to do nutmegs though last time he tried it, in a friendly against Wales before the tournament, he got a whack in the face and his nose was bleeding, so I’m not sure he’ll be trying it against England! He also speaks excellent Italian having played there for nearly nine years.
Stanislav Lobotka – He always seems three or four steps ahead when he plays and you can’t teach this – players either have it or they don’t. Often players like this end up becoming coaches but I don’t see that with him. He’s too calm, it’s just fun and passion for him. I can’t ever imagine him screaming instructions at a player, for example. He and I are the best golfers in the squad though he’s beaten me the last two times.
Ondrej Duda – After a long time, I’m really enjoying playing for Slovakia again and that is all because of our coach, Francesco Calzona. He’s shown us what it is to play attacking football again. We’ve got no reason to be stressed about this game. It’ll be a big celebration of football in our country and we have to enjoy it. We are all very calm and ready for the challenge.
Ivan Schranz is unpredictable and has already scored twice in the tournament
Lukas Haraslin can cause trouble for England because he is very quick and good at 1-v-1s
Ivan Schranz – He’s an unpredictable player. Sometimes you won’t see him for long periods of the game but then he’ll score, as he has twice in the tournament. He’s in he later stages of his career so I’m really happy he’s hit this run of form. Hopefully it can continue.
David Strelec – He’s quite a young guy with big potential but he has to work harder both on and off the pitch. If he does that he can achieve a lot but it has to come from within. Talent alone is not enough and I hope David understands this and acts on it sooner rather than later because his ceiling is high.
Lukas Haraslin – He can cause trouble for England because he’s very quick and he has good ability in one-against-one situations. In modern football you need this because the game is so quick today and he has these qualities. Let’s hope he can show them against England.
