Slovakia vs England preview

September 2, 2016
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Slovakia vs EnglandAfter sharing spoils in the group stage of the Euro 2016 finals, Slovakia and England square off at the start of the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Seeing that both sides will be eager to start with a win, we should see an interesting game of football at Stadion Antona Malatinskeho in Trnava.

Despite impressing in the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, Slovakia were not expected to progress from the group that also contained England, Wales and Russia.

However, Repre did well to recover from the opening loss to Wales and four points from next two games proved enough to secure a place in the knockout stages.

Slovakia were quite unfortunate to face star-studded Germany in the Last 16 stage and that proved the end of the road as Die Mannschaft ran out 3-0 winners.

Coach Jan Kozak has since made some changes, dropping Adam Nemec, while Stanislav Sestak retired from international football and Miroslav Stoch rejected the call-up.

Vladimir Weiss, Ondrej Duda and Patrik Hrosovsky all miss out through injury, while Robert Pich was added to the roster at a later date.

Seeing as how they only lost one of last 15 home games (W10 D4), Slovakia can be backed at 4.10 (31/10) to win the high-profile clash.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Kozacik – Pekarik, Skrtel, Durica, Hubocan – Pecovsky, Kucka – Mak, Hamsik, Svento – Durich.

England fans are eager to see how the team will perform under Sam Allardyce, after the Three Lions failed to live up to the billing at yet another major tournament.

The former Sunderland boss and his pragmatic approach could prove the perfect fit for one of the toughest jobs in world football, but he didn’t make too many changes to Roy Hodgson’s side.

James Milner retired from international duty after learning that he would not be starting under Big Sam, while Jack Wilshere, Ross Barkley and Michael Carrick were all omitted.

Luke Shaw and Danny Drinkwater return to the side, while West Ham full-back Michael Antonio could win his first England cap.

Big Sam decided to keep Wayne Rooney as his captain despite the fact that the Man Utd star plans to retire after the 2018 World Cup, with Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge vying for places up front.

The new England boss is expected to use a 4-4-2 diamond formation, where Wayne Rooney could play either as a second strike or at the tip of the diamond.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Hart – Walker, Stones, Smalling, Shaw – Dier, Sterling, Lallana, Alli – Kane, Rooney.

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