Russia’s Artem Dzyuba, left, and Slovakia’s Viktor Pecovsky go for the ball during the Euro 2016 Group B soccer match between Russian Federation and Slovakia at the Pierre Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve d’Ascq, near Lille, France, Wednesday, June 15, 2016.
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The Napoli forward proved the difference in Lille yesterday, threatening to raise the stadium’s closed roof by setting up Slovakia’s opening goal with an exquisite pass to Vladimir Weiss and then scoring a wonderful second just before half-time.
That appeared to be the only issue for authorities inside Lille’s Stade Pierre-Mauroy, in contrast to last week’s scenes in Marseille’s Stade Velodrome, where Russian fans charged into a section for England supporters after the final whistle in the draw between the two countries. “He deserves to play at a really big club”.
Hamsik’s decisive goal followed a quickly taken corner by Weiss.
Hamsik’s performance prompted Slovakia coach Jan Kozak to claim: “Napoli has become too small – he deserves a bigger club for his performances”.
“From what we have seen of Russian Federation so far we are confident we can get a result”, said the West Bromwich Albion defender, who has been one of Wales’ most impressive performers so far in the tournament.
“In the coming days I’ll meet [Napoli president Aurelio] De Laurentiis and [sporting director Cristiano] Giuntoli, but I can’t say any more at the moment”.
“We frustrated them and made them go down the sides, which is what we wanted”.
“It was a disappointing ending and it is still in our hands”. “We were under pressure in the second half but we were fighting until the end for the result”.
The last time two players scored and assisted each other in the same European Championship match was Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes for England in 2004 (v Croatia). “Not only that he scored, but in all the 90 minutes he was working for the team”.
Kozak, whose team famously defeated Spain during qualifying, added: “They have lots of good quality players and are very strong, but we have our quality as well and will try to be a decent opponent to England”.
With the 24-team format, we are seeing teams with players that we might otherwise not have.
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The match will be crucial for both sides as it can determine who will land in the second spot of the group table, which will mean automatic qualification to the next round.
