Northern Ireland v Slovakia

MIDFIELDERS

MAREK HAMSIK DALIAN PROFESSIONAL

JURAJ KUCKA PARMA

ROBERT MAK FERENCVAROS

Age Caps

33

Age Caps

33 76

Age Caps 61 Goals 13 29

123

Goals 26

Goals 9

The veteran midfielder with the unmistakable mohawk is both his country’s most capped player and the man with the most goals, too. Hamsik, the eight- time Slovak Footballer of the Year, spent 12 years with Napoli and became the Serie A side’s all-time top scorer before moving to the Chinese Super League last year.

Kucka has spent most of his club career in Italy, with spells at Serie A clubs Genoa, AC Milan and now Parma. He played in three of his country’s World Cup 2010 matches and still carries a goal threat having scored twice last year in Euro 2020 qualifiers against Wales and Azerbaijan.

Was part of Manchester City’s 2008 FA Youth Cup-winning side, having joined the club as a 13-year-old. Mak has played in Germany, Greece, Russia, Turkey and Hungary during a nomadic career. He has been a regular for his country throughout and registered his 13th international goal last month in the 3-2 loss to Israel.

VLADIMIR WEISS SLOVAN BRATISLAVA

ONDREJ DUDA FC KOLN

JAN GREGUS MINNESOTA UNITED

Age Caps

30 66

Age Caps 40 Goals 5 25

Age 29 Caps 29 Goals 3

Goals 7

Another former Man City man, Weiss played alongside Northern Ireland quartet Steven Davis, David Healy, Kyle Lafferty and Andrew Little in a loan spell with Rangers’ 2010-11 title-winning team. He is the son of a former Slovakia coach – also called Vladimir Weiss – and will hope to make his first international appearance in two years.

Duda spent the second half of last season as a team-mate of Jamal Lewis with Norwich City in the Premier League. After that loan spell ended he joined Bundesliga club FC Koln. He played in three of his country’s four matches at Euro 2016, scoring in the 2-1 loss to Wales.

Gregus is approaching two years with MLS club Minnesota United in the United States after a two-year spell in Denmark with Copenhagen. He came off the bench and scored Slovakia’s fourth penalty in their 4-2 shootout win over the Republic of Ireland in the Path B semi-final play-off.

PATRIK HROSOVSKY GENK

ALBERT RUSNAK REAL SALT LAKE

STANISLAV LOBOTKA NAPOLI

TOMAS SUSLOV GRONINGEN

Age Caps

28 28

Age Caps 27 Goals 5 26

Age Caps

25 24

Age Caps 0 Goals 0

18

Goals 0

Goals 3

Hrosovsky was another who converted his penalty in the shootout against the Republic, having played the entire game in the middle of midfield. Spent most of his career with Viktoria Plzen but moved to Genk in 2019 and was a regular during their 2019-20 Champions League campaign when the Belgian side faced Napoli, Salzburg and Liverpool.

Rusnak also spent time in Manchester City’s academy and enjoyed loan spells with Oldham Athletic and Birmingham City in England. He has made 106 appearances for Real Salt Lake City, scoring 30 times and providing 28 assists. He was a regular during the Euro 2020 qualifiers on the right side of Slovakia’s midfield.

Made a big money move to Napoli in January after two and a half years with Celta Vigo in Spain. He won his first senior cap in 2016 and his maiden international goal came at Wembley the following year when he put his country ahead in a 2-1 loss to England.

Highly rated diminutive youngster who currently calls Dutch great Arjen Robben one of his team-mates at Eredivisie side Groningen. Suslov, who scored his first league goal against PSV Eindhoven in September, has represented Slovakia at various age groups and this is his maiden call-up to the senior set-up.

STRIKERS

MICHAL DURIS OMONIA NICOSIA

PAVOL SAFRANKO SEPSI SFANTU GHEORGHE

SAMUEL MRAZ ZAGLEBIE LUBIN

Age Caps

32 48

Age Caps 8 Goals 0

25

Age Caps 3 Goals 1

23

Goals 6

Duris made his first international appearance for Slovakia way back in 2012 and he bagged a brace in a friendly win over Switzerland in 2015. He spent the bulk of his career in the Czech Republic with Viktoria Plzen, though he now plays his club football in Cyprus.

Safranko will be familiar to fans of Scottish football as he spent the 2018-19 season on loan with Championship side Dundee United, scoring 15 times in all competitions. Though the Tangerines were keen to keep him at Tannadice, he returned to parent club AaB and now calls Romania home.

Currently on his third loan spell away from Italian club Empoli. He’s now with Polish side Zaglebie Lubin following stints with Crotone and Brondby. Mraz previously impressed at Zilina – he was the Slovak Super Liga Player of the Year for 2017-18 – and then scored on his Serie A debut. His only international goal came against Jordan in 2019.

33

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