Preview: Slovakia – Paraguay

(GSM) – Slovakia and Paraguay face each other in the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein. They both earned one point in their first match: Slovakia threw away the win in the last minute against New Zealand (1-1) while Paraguay were held to a 1-1 draw by Italy.

Paraguay will hold a high moral after their solid performance against reigning World Champions Italy while the Slovakians felt they should’ve booked their first victory on the World Cup stage ever.

The South Americans will be with Roque Santa Cruz: the Manchester City striker has recovered from a muscle injury which prevented him from starting against Italy. Slovakia will put their trust in star player Marek Hamsik. The Napoli playmaker already showed some of his excellent skills in the first match against New Zealand and he will be thrilled to lead his team past Paraguay as a win will put them close to the next round.

Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino was very pleased with the performance of his men in the first group match against Italy. “We played this game equally against the current world champions,” Argentina-born Martino told the BBC after the Group F clash on Monday.

“To play against such a rival with such skills is a very good sign for us.”

“We were very organised and we defended well in the second half. It’s a good result for us against an opponent like this.”

“It gives is a lot of confidence going ahead in this tournament.”

Martino showed a big contrast with his Slovakian counterpart, Wladimir Weiss, who was upset by New Zealand’s late equaliser.

“That goal in the last minute was a sporting tragedy for us,” Weiss said in the aftermath of his own team’s 1-1 stalemate.

“We were the better team during the match but, unfortunately, we did not cope well in injury time.”

Weiss admitted the disappointing result could still bother them for the match against Paraguay.

“This is a blow for us, and now we must lift our heads for another difficult game against Paraguay.

“But that goal could hurt us, and I’m sure we will miss those two points.”