As the name suggests, Slovakia were once part of old Czechoslovakia until the nation was dissolved in the early 1990s. The Slovak Football Association was founded in 1993 and their football team remained under the shadow of their more powerful neighbors the Czech Republic watching them make major tournaments while the Slovakians stayed at home.
Slowly but surely, they moved up the footballing ladder, but they continually missed on major tournaments until they finally qualified for the 2010 World Cup. They were not fancied to make this competition either as they were drawn in a hard looking group that included Slovenia, Poland, Czech Republic and the improving Northern Ireland side. They started off like a team on a mission and recorded a major win away to the Czech Republic which gave them the belief that they could finally break their major tournament duck. Another fine away win, this time against Northern Ireland looked to have placed them aboard the plane to South Africa. However, they lost their penultimate game against Slovenia at home and were left with a tough match away to Poland which they had to win to qualify. They achieved this thanks to an early own goal and they hung on for a narrow 1-0 win which took them to the World Cup for the very first time.
It promises to be a tense group stage as they are drawn in Group F with Italy, Paraguay and New Zealand. Realistically, it promises to be a straight shootout between Slovakia and Paraguay for the right to join Italy in the knockout stages. Only European football experts will know much about the Slovakian squad. Martin Skrtel is a no nonsense centre half who plays for Liverpool. Robert Vittek of Turkish side Ankaragucu and Marek Mintal who plays in Germany for Nuremburg will be asked to provide Slovakia with the goals that they hope will fire them past Paraguay and into the second round.