Slovakia couldn’t have posted a stronger start to their UEFA Nations League C (UNL) campaign after winning both of their games during the September break without conceding. That already represents as many wins as they managed across the entire 2022/23 UNL campaign, so a return to League B after a two-cycle hiatus could yet be on the cards for Francesco Calzona’s men.
Slovakia couldn’t have posted a stronger start to their UEFA Nations League C (UNL) campaign after winning both of their games during the September break without conceding. That already represents as many wins as they managed across the entire 2022/23 UNL campaign, so a return to League B after a two-cycle hiatus could yet be on the cards for Francesco Calzona’s men. Playing in Bratislava isn’t guaranteed to stimulate further Slovak progress however, as despite winning 2-0 in their latest UNL game on their own soil, they’ve never posted back-to-back home victories in this competition. In fact, that 2-0 win over Azerbaijan was only Slovakia’s second home UNL clean sheet (W3, D1, L5), meaning that should they overcome the challenge of group leaders Sweden, they may need a handful of goals. Also amid a perfect start and topping the group, Jon Dahl Tomasson’s Sweden travel to Slovakia for the first time since a 0-0 draw back in 2013, which was curiously the scoreline in both historical away H2Hs. Currently at their lowest level of the UNL pyramid after tumbling from League A across consecutive seasons, Sweden will hope for more than another stalemate here in their quest for an immediate return to League B. Much like Slovakia at home, Sweden travel here after an away win by a two-goal margin in Azerbaijan, albeit never having put together back-to-back road wins in this competition (W3, D1, L5). All five of those defeats came across their last seven trips while conceding a total of 17 goals, so it remains to be seen whether Sweden can make the 14-place gulf between the nations in FIFA’s rankings pay. Players to watch: Ondrej Duda hasn’t found the net since scoring in the last international break for Slovakia, although five yellow cards across his last eight games for club & country suggests he will be right in and amongst the action. For Sweden, Viktor Gyökeres has directly contributed to five of their six UNL goals (G3, A2) and has scored five goals across four victories for Sporting since. Hot stat: Both teams found the net in just two of the seven historic H2Hs between these nations. Written by 90 Live
