Kozak excited but wary of Scottish momentum

Slovakia head coach Jan Kozak has told his players to savour every minute of their showdown with Scotland.

Victory at Hampden for the visitors will all-but confirm Kozak’s men as Group F runners-up and leave the hosts’ World Cup dreams in tatters.

With so much at stake, Kozak has urged his players to put on a display they will be able to remember with pride.

“Tomorrow will really be a showdown,” said the veteran coach. “We want to show what we’re capable of.

“Thank God we have this type of game tomorrow despite having had a very poor start to the qualifying campaign.

“These are the games you need to be excited about. Perhaps you have played 200 or 300 games in the league over your career which you don’t remember. But this is the kind of game you will remember and whether they are good memories or bad memories depends on your performance.”

Kozak knows his side will face a much stronger line-up than the Scotland team they swept aside 3-0 in Trnava a year ago.

Yet he insists he will still send his side out to win the game rather than sitting back looking for a point which might also be good enough to book a play-off spot if they beat Malta in their final match on Sunday.

He said: “It’s always good to play teams like Scotland as football here is like a religion.

“In the last game against them, we won 3-0 after a very good performance but since then the Scotland coach has changed the philosophy.

“He’s built the team around thecelticplayersandcomplements them with players in good form.

“They have good momentum now.”

Napoli playmaker Marek Hamsik has declared himself fit and will collect his 100th cap when he runs out at Hampden.

And he says his team will have to be up for the fight. “Scotland has been improving from game to game,” he said. “They play aggressive, fighting football but recently we have played a lot of matches against teams from the British Isles so we know what to expect, I think we have what it takes to get a good result.”