JAN’S MEN READY TO BAG A WIN
JAN KOZAK has vowed to make it a night to remember for Slovakia – and another World Cup campaign for Scotland to forget.
Scotland’s Group F rivals were forced to wait more than an hour for their luggage at Glasgow Airport yesterday afternoon but boss Kozak insists they will carry no baggage of regret from Hampden tonight.
The Euro 2016 finalists lost their first two qualifiers against England and Slovenia but rallied to win five in a row before defeat at Wembley four weeks ago.
A victory for Slovakia would virtually guarantee they finish in the play-off spot as they round off their qualifying campaign at home to basement boys Malta on Sunday evening.
They could even have second place confirmed for sure if they see off the Scots and Slovenia lose to England at Wembley.
Kozak said: “The game against Scotland will really be a showdown and we want to show what we are capable of. Thank God for these type of games, that we still have this chance after a very poor start to the campaign.
“If you’ve followed us for some time you’ll have seen we try to impose our game on the play without consideration for the opponent.
“These are the games you need to be excited about. These are the games you will remember and whether they are good memories or bad memories depends on your performance.”
The Slovaks landed in Glasgow only to be left cooling their heels at the carousel as they waited on their bags. Star midfielder Marek Hamsik said: “Luckily I didn’t have to wait because I only had hand luggage but it shouldn’t happen.
“Scotland have been improving from game to game and they will also have the home advantage and will want to make the most of it. They play an aggressive, fighting type of football but recently we have played quite a lot of matches against teams from the British Isles so we know what to expect
“We have what it takes to perform and get a good result against them.”
Kozak, a former player with Czechoslovakia, knows all about the Scots and the style of play Gordon Strachan is likely to adopt, based on the recent success of Celtic.
He said: “We had England and Wales in our group at the Euros and we wanted to prepare for that kind of football so we played Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in friendlies.
“We know about the style of football in the British Isles. It is always good to play against these teams. Football here is like a kind of religion.
“When you compare Scotland’s team a year ago to this team, five players that played here last year are not in the team and since then their performances have improved. We won 3-0 after a very good performance so our players earned that result.
“Since then their coach has changed the philosophy and has built his team around Celtic players.
“He uses five or six from Celtic then adds the rest with players in good form. They have good momentum now and are putting in good performances, securing excellent results.
“They are really keen but we can say the same about our team. That is why I am really looking forward to this game.”