Jan Kozak – Slovakia Football Fans

The Slovakian national football team has always struggled trying make an impact in the international scene as they have consistently failed to qualify in the FIFA World Cup as well as the Olympic Games and in the Euro’s.

However, since the introduction of Jan Kozak as the head coach of the Slovakian national football team back on 2013, the Slovakian side was able to compete in the European Championship’s for the first time ever in 2016.

After 5 years at the helm, Jan Kozak stepped down from Slovakia

It was after Slovakia lost 1-2 to Czech Republic in the Nations League Group 1 on September 6 of 2018 that the confirmation of Jan Kozak resigning from his managerial position was announced as he was replaced by PavelHapal who had a few things to say concerning his new role with the international side as he said:

“First of all, I have to say that it’s a great honor for me to lead the Slovak national team. Not everyone manages to get this post. Maybe it helped that I have worked in Slovakia for a long time and I also achieved good results with the Slovak national U21 team. I appreciate this opportunity and it is very binding for me,”

“”According to the Slovakian Football Association (SFZ) president, Kovacik stated that the recently appointed manager “PavalHapalwas offered a contract that has the duration of one qualification round and an option “”of having it extended.“

It still remains exactly unclear as to what was the main motivation behind the resignation of Jan Kozak as there are rumors suggesting that it was due to some of his own players while other rumors are claiming that it was due to the 1-2 defeat against Czech Republic which put the final nail on the coffin as they had already sustain another loss with Ukraine only 1 month prior and ultimately this led to Slovakia failing to qualify for the 2020-21 UEFA Nations League.

Slovakia coach Jan Kozak watched his team suffered a 2-1 loss against Wales in their opening match of the Euro 2016.

The result is a huge disappointment for Slovakia who were hoping to take advantage of England dropping points in the opening match against Russia.Kozak and his players were aware of the threat from Wales, who have been riding on the success of Gareth Bale, and they were extremely disappointed to lose the game.Kozak felt that there was little to separate the two teams after the end of 90 minutes.

He blamed luck for going against his team. Gareth Bale is one of the main danger men and Slovakia were aware of this aspect going into the match. However, they failed to prevent the Real Madrid winger from opening the scoring after just 10 minutes. Despite this early setback, Slovakia came back into the match through some stubborn play. The equaliser came in the second half through Duda. Both teams had an even number of chances with Wales slightly edgeing the opposition in this regard. Slovakia also nominated the game in terms of territory, as they had slightly more possession than Wales.

The blow for Slovakia came with nine minutes of normal time remaining,as Robson-Kanu came up with the goal that proved to be the winner. The loss has left Slovakia with a mountain to climb in the remaining two matches.”Of course any defeat is unpleasant, especially at a Euro. I knew whoever scored first would have a big advantage as Wales have a well-organised defence.After we conceded we were not really comfortable on the ball, we lost possession, but after half-time we did our best and equalised.Towards the end both teams tried to win, it was an open game, and they had a bit more luck,” said the Slovakia boss.