Slovakia's Peter Pekarik and Francesco Calzona preview Euro 2024 last 16 clash with England
Slovakia's Peter Pekarik and Francesco Calzona preview Euro 2024 last 16 clash with England
29/06/24
UEFA24
Arena Auf Schalke,Gelsenkirchen, Germany
29/06/24
UEFA24
Arena Auf Schalke,Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Category
š„
SportsTranscript
00:00Come on, go ahead. Okay, first question over there.
00:05Thank you.
00:07Good evening. I have a question for Petr Pekarik.
00:11First of all, I wish you all the best.
00:13I would like to ask you what it means for you to play against England,
00:20how do you perceive this opponent and how do you feel about him?
00:25Thank you.
00:27Good evening, everyone.
00:29First of all, thank you very much for the invitation.
00:32Of course, after the first goal that we achieved
00:37to advance to the 8th final of the championship
00:41among the top 6 teams,
00:43the first goal of the entire national team is behind us,
00:49but there are more challenges ahead of us.
00:52I have always claimed that when a person dreams,
00:57believes in great things, he can achieve them.
01:01Of course, we are aware of which team we are playing against.
01:08It is practically the last finalist of the European Championship 2020.
01:14A huge individual quality of the entire team.
01:20It is one of the favorites of the entire championship,
01:24but we will keep an eye on ourselves.
01:27We want to present ourselves with our own game,
01:30as we did in the previous three matches,
01:33and in the entire qualification.
01:35I believe that against such a strong opponent
01:38we will be able to make our game possible.
01:49Good evening, Martin Kajkl, Slovakia.
01:51Pekarik, all the best.
01:53It is easy for me to remember.
01:55Me too, Petr.
01:56The question is,
01:57the memory of the match against Zenit,
02:00eight years ago, what was it like?
02:03How do you remember it?
02:05Do you see a parallel in the fact
02:07that the English were the favorites,
02:09they were under pressure,
02:10and we needed to play the final,
02:12and we did.
02:13Thank you.
02:15Yes, I remember this match very well,
02:18because in English we played more matches,
02:21whether it was at the European Championships in 2016,
02:25in Zenit or in France,
02:27or later in the 2018 World Championships.
02:31So I am absolutely sure
02:35about the matches against this opponent,
02:38and for this particular match
02:40we needed a point to advance from the group,
02:43and we played that point,
02:45even though I know that in this match
02:48we were under a lot of pressure,
02:51but we managed to get it all back,
02:54and we got that point gradually,
02:57and every match is one.
02:59There are eight finals in the European Championships,
03:03and we will focus on ourselves,
03:06and we will definitely do everything we can
03:09in preparation for the next match.
03:12Thank you.
03:18I am 100% sure that, as I mentioned,
03:22we will cause problems for this opponent,
03:25that we will put him in a difficult situation,
03:28and of course I expect that in this match
03:31we will face challenges,
03:34that there will be situations
03:37when we will have to shut down,
03:39and, as it was in the previous matches,
03:42we will support each other.
03:44That is one of our biggest strengths in this championship.
03:53Marek Svatek, Televizija Joj,
03:55question for Petr.
03:57Petr, we are talking about the fact
03:59that this is a finished miracle,
04:01what you can do on the pitch,
04:03in individual matches,
04:05the opponent's strength is very high,
04:07but now comes the test of fire,
04:09so what do you expect from the English,
04:12from their offensive strength,
04:14and how much energy did you save for this opponent?
04:17Thank you.
04:21Yes, the English have a lot of strength,
04:24not only offensively, but also defensively.
04:27When we look at every character,
04:29they are players of world-class quality,
04:31who play in top clubs,
04:34grow their skills,
04:36create players from the English league,
04:39which I consider to be the best league in the world.
04:46Against such an opponent,
04:48we definitely need each of us
04:50to have a perfect day tomorrow,
04:53and go to the edge of our abilities.
04:56Maybe even after that,
04:58to be able to face this opponent.
05:01As far as my energy is concerned,
05:03of course, after all three matches,
05:06I felt really good physically,
05:08and after the match against Romania,
05:11I regenerated very well.
05:13All the players are 100% ready
05:17for tomorrow's duel,
05:20so in this direction,
05:22everything will definitely be fine.
05:38But we're still waiting for a performance
05:40that is world-class from them.
05:42When you've analysed England ahead of this game,
05:45why do you think they haven't performed to expectations,
05:49and where do you think you can capitalise
05:52on any potential weaknesses in their team?
06:01I think that when this team
06:05starts to perform as a team,
06:10it will become unbeatable.
06:13It's clear that we have to make the most of it,
06:18if they give us anything.
06:20But it's also true that we have to be very careful,
06:23because it's a very good squad.
06:26I think it's the best squad in Europe,
06:30in terms of quality,
06:32because they have a great physicality,
06:34and a great technique.
06:36They have very important players at home,
06:39so they have a lot of top-notch players.
06:46We have to make the most of their weaknesses
06:51and their concessions,
06:53but we have to be careful at the same time,
06:58because this is a team that can hurt you
07:00at any moment.
07:12Yes, of course.
07:14From the analysis of our opponents,
07:18or the matches we've seen,
07:21it's clear that the quality of our opponents is great.
07:29We can't say that the media or the outside world
07:37say that England are not in top form at the moment.
07:40I don't think so at the moment,
07:42because before the championship,
07:44I said that England are one of the biggest favourites
07:49to win the championship.
07:53But if you make a small mistake in a match,
07:57your opponent will immediately punish you.
08:00We'll have to focus on ourselves.
08:04Every player knows the risk with 100% concentration.
08:09The mistakes we made in the previous matches,
08:15we can't allow them tomorrow,
08:20because our opponents can make use of it
08:24and punish us for it.
08:51For two matches, he was the MVP.
08:55Now it could be another time,
08:58the MVP stopping Jude Bellingham
09:03when he goes on air,
09:08defending in front of his goal,
09:13to stop Bellingham also in the defensive phase.
09:20To protect the goal of Slovakia.
09:24In the defensive phase, in front of the defence.
09:29We know that Lopoteka has great quality.
09:34He has already won two out of three matches,
09:37as my player of the match.
09:40He is a fundamental player,
09:42because he has intelligence above average.
09:45He defends very well.
09:48It's clear that in this match,
09:50he will have a world-class player in front of him, Bellingham.
09:54But Lobo is also a top-level player.
09:58For two or three years now,
10:02he's been a top player at great levels.
10:06I think he will have a great match tomorrow,
10:11but we have to do it as a team.
10:14We have to do it as a team with the help of Lobo.
10:18But we have to be a team.
10:20Lobo alone cannot solve our problems.
10:44The technical gap will be large.
10:47This is a match in which the coach can be particularly important
10:53in the preparing.
10:55Did you have fun preparing this match?
11:03It's clear that if we talk about quality,
11:08we are inferior.
11:10They are worth 1.5 billion,
11:12while we are worth 150 million,
11:14ten times more.
11:16As I said before,
11:18there are also technical qualities.
11:20But I think that the difference is always made by the players.
11:23The coach must be good at conveying his ideas.
11:28But in the end, it's the players who go out there
11:31and bring back as much as possible of what the coach asks of them.
11:37My luck is that I have a team that is really committed.
11:42They want to play as a team.
11:46We want to be solid defensively.
11:50It's clear that preparing a match against a team like that
11:55you have to take care of the details.
11:58You have to take care of the details
12:00because they can punish you at any time.
12:02But I have faith in my players
12:06because so far they have given me a lot of satisfaction
12:10both in terms of performance and behaviour.
12:14They are unbeatable in this respect.
12:17I have full faith in them that we will have a great match.
12:30Good afternoon.
12:31I would like to ask you a question.
12:34We all believe that you will be able to advance through England tomorrow.
12:39But if you don't make it,
12:41will it be the end of your career or the end of your whole career?
12:46I would also like to ask if it should be your farewell
12:50in the quarterfinals or the quarterfinals
12:53or if it's a dreamlike end of your career.
12:56How are you going to end your career?
13:00If I may, I would just like to say
13:04that I am focusing 100% on tomorrow's match.
13:13So no further comments.
13:30Hi, Peter.
13:32Henry Winter from World Soccer.
13:34Congratulations again on your name day.
13:36The population of Slovakia is 5.4 million.
13:40The population of England is 10 times as much, 55 million.
13:44And yet when we see you play in the group stage and in your qualifiers,
13:47there's an amazing passion for the shirt and for the country.
13:50Can you describe that, please? Thank you.
14:00Yes.
14:03I am very happy that we have gradually made the whole of Slovakia go crazy
14:09with the championship.
14:11Our fans deserve a huge thank you for their incredible support.
14:16Because in every match we played in this tournament,
14:21they created a great atmosphere for us.
14:24We felt a huge energy that we will need tomorrow as well.
14:29So the first goal that we achieved belongs to all Slovak fans,
14:36not only those in the stands, but also those in the TV screens,
14:40who keep their fingers crossed for us all the time during the match.
14:49I wish them all the best for tomorrow's performance.
14:55I wish them all the best for tomorrow's performance.
15:18Have you considered switching to a more defensive approach for this game?
15:31We have our own style of play.
15:35I don't want to change the mentality of my team.
15:41We can make some changes,
15:44but we won't change what we have done so far.
15:49I would like to say that I have to change the mentality of my players,
15:54who now like this type of football.
16:02I repeat, there will be some changes, but nothing in particular.
16:05We will continue to play our style of football without any problems.
16:12Good evening, Dominika Komrelova, RTVS.
16:16I have a question for the coach.
16:18Are all the players ready for a healthy men's team?
16:22Especially for Denis Vavra, who we saw training individually today.
16:27Thank you.
16:34No, he didn't train separately.
16:36He only did a warm-up,
16:40because he has been suffering from acute inflammation for about a year now.
16:46There are training sessions where he does a warm-up with the athletic coach,
16:55not with the team.
16:56He has always been with the team during the rest of the training,
16:59but Denis is fine.
17:02Okay, thank you.
17:03Thank you.
17:04We're going to check for the last question on the remote.
17:07If we have one, maybe Hans Claus is connected.
17:12No, we don't have.
17:14Sorry.
17:16Thanks, everybody.
17:17Thank you, coach.
17:18Thank you, Senor Calzona.
17:20And thank you, Peter.
17:23Next press conference with England at 7.
17:28You can go.
17:307.45, 7.30, I believe.
17:34I don't want to be mistaken with Coach Southgate and Harry Kane.
17:39That's for sure.
17:40See you.