Gresko happy Slovak’s can take advantage of dismal conditions

IRELAND may feel perfectly at home in Bratislava this week given the miserable weather but Slovakia captain Vratislav Gresko is confident the hosts can use the heavy downpours to their advantage.

Bratislava has been saturated by incessant rain since the team’s arrival on Thursday evening and though the forecast suggests we will see some intermittent sunshine between the dark clouds today, the damage seems to have been done as far as the pitch is concerned.

“We are not used to such conditions,” admitted Bayer Leverkusen’s Gresko. “The last match we played in such weather was the World Cup qualifier against Spain. I feel it will be a football match for the first 15 or 20 minutes but that it will be a battle after that. I feel we could be faster than the Irish team on that type of terrain.”

Any concerns that the downpours would result in a postponement of the fixture were allayed yesterday afternoon by Slovakian officials and manager Jan Kocian who made light of the heavy underfoot conditions ahead of a game which is almost make or break for both teams.

“I am convinced that we have the type of player that doesn’t care if it is a hard pitch or a wet one. The pitch is not a reason to change strategy. We want to play our combination game. We have players who will be able to fulfil my plans.”

Kocian is likely to start with a 4-4-1-1 formation with a line-up that could boast as many as eight changes from that which lined out against Ireland in Croke Park last March.

Centre-back Maros Klimpl, Gresko at right-back and Marek Sapara in midfield are the three expected to remain from that encounter with Marek Mintal playing off Filip Holosko up front in the absence of captain Robert Vittek.

Though they have lost their last three fixtures — the other two were also by the odd goal to Germany and Ireland — Kocian was pleased with each of the performances, particularly that given in Croke Park.

“We lost by one goal to a free kick but we played well in Dublin. For the last part of the game we were as good as the Irish, maybe better at times later in the game.”

Slovakia have shipped heavy defeats at home to both Germany and the Czech Republic so far in this campaign but they demonstrated with their 5-1 win in Cardiff last October what they can achieve when they find a groove.

The loss of Vittek, however, is difficult to overstate. The FC Nurnberg player boasts almost a goal in every second game for his country but may be out until 2008 after injuring his knee last week.

“It is certainly a big loss for us but we want to fight for him,” said Mintal who plays alongside Vittek for club and country. “He has played a lot of matches for us as captain, as our leader, but we are confident that we can substitute him.”

They may lie four points behind Ireland with the same amount of matches played but, with San Marino still to face them twice, Slovakia are far from a beaten docket in Group D.

Like Ireland though, they know that defeat tonight will all but condemn them to elimination. The stakes could hardly be higher but Kocian is confident his will be the side left standing when the curtain comes down in Bratislava tonight.

“I always say that the next match is the most important and that is the case for this game against the Irish. We want to win it and we would like to be in a condition that we can still fight to qualify after this match.”