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Search: ' Slovakia'

Stories

Turf wars

wsc303Visiting teams complain about the pitch, but the Luzhniki Stadium deals with the Russian weather, writes Sasha Goryunov

In May 2008, Chelsea and Manchester United contested the Champions League final at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. There was something unusual about the playing surface: it was grass. For one match only, turf was brought in from Slovakia. In fact, this was the second set of imported grass. The original failed to take root and had to be replaced just two weeks before the game. John Terry might wish they hadn’t bothered.

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Trap door

wsc299 After their first leg play-off win, Lee Daly reflects on Ireland’s Euro 2012 qualification campaign

Despite the Republic of Ireland scoring four goals in their away victory against Estonia in the first leg of their Euro 2012 play-off, the most ambitious Irish performance of the night was from fan Conor Cunningham. He managed to sneak past security into the stadium and make it onto the pitch, disguised in an Estonian team tracksuit top. Cunningham sat in the home team dugout and celebrated with the Irish players after their victory. He became an overnight media sensation and made several appearances on radio explaining he was as surprised as anyone that he wasn’t found out until after the final whistle.

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Drawing a blank

Paraguay fared well at the Copa América and the World Cup, but as Simeon Tegel tells us, their style of play has frustrated many fans

Is the glass half-full or half-empty? That is the question dogging Paraguay’s national team after achieving two of their best ever tournament results, in the Copa América and World Cup, while barely winning a match. The Guaraníes, nicknamed after the indigenous group that still lives in swathes of the country, finished runners-up in August’s South American championship and made it to the last eight in South Africa, a first for the sparsely populated nation in a World Cup.

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Small town heroes

Champions League competition can be mixed blessing and James Baxter sympathises with a team thrashed by Marseille

When MŠK Žilina’s first ever Champions League group stage campaign finally drew to an end last December, debate in Slovakia as to its merits and otherwise was already long underway. The general consensus was that the failure to pick up points was disappointing and the 7-0 home defeat by Marseille humiliating but also that the team had played good football in spells and learned several lessons.

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Russian roulette

Away from the staged celebrations, Sasha Goryunov assesses the social and political consequences for the 2018 World Cup hosts 

As Russian football’s domestic season trundled towards its conclusion at the end of November, a collective feeling of ennui enveloped commentators and supporters across the country. St Petersburg, where Zenit fans celebrated the club’s second post-Soviet title, was perhaps the only exception. In Europe, as expected, Russia’s clubs gravitated towards the knockout stages of the Europa League. However, the decision taken in Zürich on December 2 gave Russia and its football a new sense of purpose. Or so it seems.

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