The Napoli attacking midfielder scored a sumptuous goal after he set up Vladimir Weiss for the opener in a 2-1 victory over Russian Federation at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille, and admitted afterwards Slovakia has qualification firmly in its sights.
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Their profligacy leaves Russian Federation needing to beat Wales in their final group game if they are to have any chance of progressing but there was only joy for Slovakia, as they marked their debut at a European Championship finals with a first win.
The Napoli attacking midfielder proved the difference in Lille, setting up the opening goal with an exquisite pass to Vladimir Weiss and then scoring a wonderful second just before half-time. “In the second half, we were sitting deep all the time but we held on to the result and we’re very happy”.
Russian Federation prop up the group with one point from two matches and will surely now need to beat Wales in their final group game to keep their hopes of reaching the last 16 alive.
The game started off at a slow pace without much forward movement from either team. Creating space and manufacturing time on the ball, he kept Slovakia looking risky despite their scant possession.
If Slovakia progress, could become one of the players of the tournament.
Another effort from Russian Federation as the Slovakia defence seemed to open up and a shot from 25-yards by Smolov was dragged just an inch wide of the left-hand post. That includes Playing for 90’s very own Jake Marcin who selected them to come out of the group based on a lack of holes and the star power of Marek Hamsik. Dmitri Payet’s strike against Romania was spectacular but Hamsik’s was every bit its equal as he received the ball from a short corner and found the far corner with a strike that caromed in off the post. Oleg Shatov came across in an attempt to block Hamsik but the 28-year-old turned back onto his right foot and curled a tremendous effort in off the far post.
It was arguably the goal of Euro 2016 so far and it had the Slovakians at that end of the ground in raptures.
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He introduced Denis Glushakov for Roman Neustadter and Pavel Mamaev for Aleksandr Golovin in pursuit of the goals they needed, but it was a defensive lapse that gave them hope.
