Slovakia vs Northern Ireland; International Match
Slovakia vs Northern Ireland. International Match.
Stadion Antona Malatinskeho.
Slovakia v Northern Ireland preview: Stuart Dallas to miss final Euro 2016 warm-up
Sunday 5 June 2016 18:41, UK
Leeds United winger Stuart Dallas will miss Northern Ireland's final Euro 2016 warm-up friendly away to Slovakia on Saturday after getting married.
Dallas, who set Friday as the date over two years ago, has the full blessing of manager Michael O'Neill to be absent and will join up with the squad on Sunday.
Aaron Hughes is expected to win his 100th cap, while Shane Ferguson returns having missed the Belarus game due to his involvement in Millwall's League One play-off final.
Hughes is a free agent after being released by Melbourne City last month and, should he play, will become the first Northern Ireland outfield player to reach the milestone.
He will also become only the 12th Home Nations centurion in a list that includes Sir Bobby Charlton, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and his fellow countryman Pat Jennings.
O'Neill's side are currently 11 games undefeated - the longest unbeaten run of any Euro 2016 nation - having not lost since March 2015.
Wigan striker Will Grigg, the subject of a song that has broken into the UK music charts, will be pushing for another chance to impress having scored in Friday's win against Belarus.
England and Wales group opponents Slovakia will provide a stern test having lost only two of their previous 19 internationals, and their head coach Jan Kozak believes Northern Ireland are similar to Wales and therefore ideal preparation.
They come into the game fresh from a 3-1 victory over world champions and Northern Ireland's Group C opponents Germany.
Slovakia, who are captained by Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel, have no fresh injury worries and will make two changes from the Germany game.
Dynamo Moscow defender Tomas Hubocan will start while PAOK midfielder Robert Mak will also be given a chance to impress.
Team news
Millwall midfielder Ferguson will be back in contention after his appearance in the Sky Bet League One play-off final, although as mentioned Dallas is absent.
Avoiding any last minute injuries will also be high on O'Neill's list, with fringe players in the squad expected to get their chance to shine in Trnava.
Kozak confirmed that Skrtel and Napoli playmaker Marek Hamsik will start for Slovakia on Saturday and also said there would be a couple of changes from the team that beat Germany, with Hubocan and Mak coming into the side.
Match stats
Slovakia have won two of their three previous encounters with Northern Ireland, losing the other.
Northern Ireland's solitary victory against Slovakia came back in March 1998, courtesy of a goal from Steve Lomas (1-0).
Slovakia have scored twice in each of their last two matches against Northern Ireland, both in World Cup 2010 qualifiers.
Conor Washington has scored in two of his three internationals for Northern Ireland.
Since the start of the 2014/15 season, Kyle Lafferty has scored eight times for Northern Ireland, more often than any other player.
Northern Ireland have not won an away friendly international since August 2006 and have only scored once in 13 games since that victory (against Wales in March).
Slovakia have only been beaten once in their last 13 home internationals (W10 D2).
O'Neill is unbeaten in his last 11 games as manager of Northern Ireland (W6 D5).
