Slovakia beats Costa Rica 3-0 in World Cup warmup

By foxsports
Published

Slovakia swept to a 3-0 victory over Costa Rica on Saturday, but had key defender Martin Skrtel taken to hospital after picking up an ankle injury in its World Cup warmup match.

Douglas Sequeira's own goal gave Slovakia the lead in the 16th minute. The Costa Rica defender tapped in a cross from Vladimir Weiss - the son of Slovakia coach Vladimir Weiss - from the right.

Robert Vittek, who has recovered from a knee injury, made it 2-0 early in the second half when he slotted home a rebound after a shot from Sestak hit the crossbar.

It was Vittek's 19th goal for his country in his 70th international.

Stanislav Sestak added the third from the spot in the 87th after Weiss was brought down in the area.

But there were concerns after Skrtel injured his right ankle in the 13th minute and had to be replaced. The Liverpool central defender was taken to a hospital for a scan but will travel with the team to South Africa.

``I'll hope it will be OK,'' coach Weiss said. Skrtel was expected not to train for three days.

Looking ahead to the tournament, Weiss added: ``We're not going as an outsider. We're going there to play good football and to fight for a place in the second round.''

Slovakia went on the attack from the start but squandered numerous scoring chances. Miroslav Stoch hit the crossbar eight minutes into the game and Stoch, Marek Hamsik and substitute Erik Jendrisek failed to score when they had only goalkeeper Keylor Navas to beat.

Striker Filip Holosko, who broke his leg last year and was not able to train with the squad until Monday because of residual pain, recovered in time and came on in the 67th minute.

Slovakia won its European qualifying group to advance to the World Cup for the first time, while Costa Rica didn't qualify.

Slovakia will be heading for South Africa on Tuesday.

The team will open on June 15 against New Zealand before facing Paraguay and defending champion Italy in Group F.

Lineups:

Slovakia: Jan Mucha, Radoslav Zabavnik, Martin Skrtel (Kornel Salata, 16), Jan Durica, Marek Cech (Peter Pekarik, 46), Zdeno Strba (Kamil Kopunek, 46), Vladimir Weiss, Marek Hamsik (Marek Sapara, 46), Miroslav Stoch (Erik Jendrisek, 76), Stanislav Sestak, Robert Vittek (Filip Holosko, 67).

Costa Rica: Keylor Navas, Roy Myrie (Leonardo Gonzales, 80), Gonzalo Segares, Douglas Sequeira, Junior Diaz, David Guzman, Marco Urena (Cristian Gamboa, 52), Carlos Hernandez (Jose Mena, 80), Michael Barrantes (Diego Estrada, 69), Diego Madrigal (Fernando Paniagua, 69), Winston Parks.