International Friendly Preview: Slovakia - Liechtenstein

Critics of World Cup qualifying will have been silenced this season by the run of form of countries such as Slovakia who are proving that with the right backing and players, even unfancied countries can perform.

Arsène Wenger believes that there should be qualifying rounds before the qualifiers themselves start for major competitions, but for killjoys such as the Arsenal manager, the World Cup group stages are proving that there should be no rush to exclusionism.

Slovakia have watched as their former geographical partners, the Czech Republic, have grabbed all the headlines with a number of high-class players playing their trade in Europe's top leagues and a number of appearances at the European Championships and World Cup finals.

A superb opening to their Group 3 campaign though has meant that Slovakians are now dreaming of playing on the biggest stage two years from now for the very first time since they gained independence.

Three wins from three matches in the qualifiers means that they sit atop the group and, while there is still a long way to go, they can start dreaming of preparing for the tournament in South Africa.

Those preparations will be aided by friendlies and while many nations may not feel that playing Liechtenstein is much of a test, it will provide coach Vladimir Weiss with the chance to try out different players and tweak his system.

The visitors have yet to score a goal in their qualifiying group, but they have earned a point against fellow struggles Azerbaijan, in between losing to Germany and Wales.

TEAM NEWS

Slovakia

Squad: Mucha, Senecky, Cech, Cisovsky, Dolezaj, Pekarik, Zabavnik, Borbely, Hamsik, Jez, Kozak, Kucka, Obzera, Slovak, Svento, Holosko, Jakubko, Vittek.

Liechtenstein

Squad: Büchel, Jehle, D'Elia, Oehri, Martin Stocklasa, Ritzberger, Michael Stocklasa, Vogt, Gerster, Bugmeier, Polverino, Martin Büchel, Rohrer, Ronnie Büchel, Beck, Fischer, Frick, Christen.

PREDICTION

The Slovaks' defence should be able to step up and help build from the back given that their opponents are not renowned for posing many problems with spells of pressure. While this should be a comfortable win, it will mean that Weiss will continue his team's winning ways and keep the confidence high.

Slovakia 3 - 0 Liechtenstein

Lucas Brown, Goal.com