Slovakia head coach Francesco Calzona once again commented on the defeat of his team from Ukraine (1:2) in the match of the 2nd round of the group stage of Euro 2024 in Group "E".
Francesco Calzona"It is very difficult to play the whole match at such a high level, which we showed in the first 30 minutes of the match against Ukraine. And already at the end of the first half we didn't play very well. We talked about it with the team at halftime. To be competitive, we need to increase the time during which we play at the level of our opponent.
And in this match we let the Ukraine national team play its soccer for half an hour, and they punished us for it. Why did this happen? It can be easily explained, there is only one reason - the strength of the opponent. Ukraine did everything to get back into the game.
The opponent had to win to get back in the fight for the exit from the group. As for us, the Slovakian national team is still the Cinderella of the group stage of Euro 2024. The mere fact that we are here and continue the fight to reach the 1/8 finals is already very important. Moreover, my team strives to play its soccer in every match, regardless of the opponent. I am very proud of this. And after all, just a few months ago it was unimaginable that we would compete in a balanced team with such strong teams," SportNet quoted Calzona as saying.
Translation and stylistic adaptation - Dynamo.kiev.ua, when using the material hyperlink is mandatory!
