A Slovenian miracle

When that goal by Zlatko Dedič hit the net a miracle happened. The small Central European nation Slovenia qualified for their only second ever World Cup and only their 3rd major tournament. A huge achievement for a country with only a little over 2 million people.
And what's even more miraculous is that Slovenia were drawn into their qualifying group from Pot E, the fifth strongest of the pots, along the likes of Georgia, Albania, Iceland, Armenia and many more so called "lesser teams". Their group consisted of Slovakia, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland and Poland. All of them, which you'd expect Slovenia to struggle to beat. The only weak side in the group were San Marino.

But Slovenia's only wins weren't against San Marino. They won four home matches and only drew with Czech Republic. Away form was also solid with 2 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw. And what's even more remarkable. The defence, lead by fairly unknown players to the public yet, Marko Šuler and Boštjan Cesar, conceded only 4 goals. An achievement only bettered by two-times runner-up of the World Cup, the Netherlands.

Manager, Matjaž Kek, who himself also managed a national team cap for Slovenia back in 1992, has done a remarkable job with the resources available to him. When Slovenia last reached the World Cup finals, 2002 in South Korea, they were mostly seen as a one-man team, with everything running through captain Zlatko Zahovič, who's arguably the best ever player to come from that small nation. Now there's a good mix of youth and experience, captain Robert Koren, who plays his club football at West Bromwich Albion being the most well known name.

Kek has been praised for creating a wonderful team spirit among the players. When Zahovic was still playing, there were always miscommunication and arguments between him and then time manager Srečko Katanec, currently the manager of United Arab Emirates, and that caused a down fall of many things. Team spirit was really lacking in the qualifying process of EURO 2008. Until Kek took over the helm in January 2007, the team had only managed to beat Luxembourg. It turned out to be only one from the total three, but what Kek did, was installing a more intelligent approach to matches and created a togetherness feeling in the dressing room. That qualifying process was more of a learning curve with the exam being the World Cup qualifying 2010 and the manager, players and everyone involved with the team came through it with flying colours.

South Korea 2002 ended pointless for Slovenia, but with the defense rock solid and players ready to prove their worth, lead by a intelligent manager, no doubt Slovenia won't be on any teams wanted list when the World Cup 2010 draw is made in two weeks time.