Slovenia v USA - Kek looking to put Slovenia on the map

Posted Friday, June 18, 2010 by PA

Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek hailed the great step forward his team have taken in 12 months from struggling to qualify for the World Cup to being a win away from reaching the last 16.

Kek described his team's second Group C match against the United States at Ellis Park as a "huge challenge" but their victory over Algeria means they go into the match in pole position in the group and can assure themselves of a place in the knockout phase with another three points.

They will be underdogs against the Americans - a country with a population 150 times greater than the small Alpine nation - but they have form for seeing off world superpowers after dumping out Russia in the play-offs.

Kek was not keen to revisit that success but admits the transformation in his team from June 2009 to now has been incredible.

"A year ago we were making preparations for playing San Marino, today we are thinking about the knockout stage in our second match," he said. "A great step has been taken and our squad has achieved a great evolution. This is not the most important match in our history but it is important and it can establish Slovenia on the global map of football.

"I know we have the smallest population of all the teams in the World Cup but we have not come here to rest, we are active participants in this World Cup. A year back things were completely different."

United States coach Bob Bradley says he and his team will take the lessons from the disappointment they suffered at Ellis Park just under a year ago as they prepare for a match which they cannot afford to lose.

The Americans were 2-0 up against Brazil at half-time in the final of the Confederations Cup at the Johannesburg stadium on June 28, 2009 only to lose the match 3-2.

On Friday a win for Slovenia and for England against Algeria would leave qualification for the knockout phase out of the hands of Bradley's team.

The USA boss accepts it is a big game but believes his team have plenty of experience of such high-pressure encounters, some won and some lost.

"Along the way there are finals and matches where the pressure is on," he said. "We've had good experiences as a group, we've learned from both sides.

"We've learned from moments where we've stuck together and pulled out important wins and we've learned from days where we've let the game get away from us, I mentioned earlier the final last June."