Defeat to Azerbaijan? I don’t have time to wait. It was a complete schoolboy mistake and naivety, said Slovak coach Calzona

The Slovak national football team failed to win another match. This time they failed to score at home against Azerbaijan, who won 2-1 after a goal in the 95th minute. The new Italian coach did not hide his disappointment.

The recent performances of the Slovak national team have not been good at all. Our neighbours were relegated from the Nations League to Group C and the goal was to get back to the group.

However, this goal will not be fulfilled. The Slovaks have Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Belarus in their group, and they have won only six points from five matches.

They beat Belarus at home and Azerbaijan away. However, it was this country that they lost to at home, despite the fact that Pilsen’s Erik Jirka managed to equalise from a penalty kick in the 93rd minute.

Two minutes later, however, Hojjat Haghverdi won the game for the visitors with his goal. “This national team needs a rebuild and I don’t have time to wait. The older players who stayed on the bench were willing to sacrifice.

I realise that a new cycle has started. But we will definitely use the older players in the next matches,” said new Italian coach Francesco Calzona at the post-match press conference.

“It’s all just a matter of time. I expected there would be moments when we would struggle on the pitch. But that it would be up to forty-five minutes I didn’t expect,” added the experienced coach, who has been more of an assistant for most of his career.

“It was a complete schoolboy mistake and naivety. The players were concentrating on their positions but not on the ball, which they should have been taking care of. It was a banal failure. Something like that cannot happen to a team like Slovakia,” he said in response to the second goal.

The Slovaks will play their last match at home against Belarus. Kazakhstan, who lost only once in a draw, will advance, while Belarus falls lower.

Source:: iDNES