Wales favourites in battles of nerves

Welsh players will have to battle their nerves on the pitch, as they will be playing in the Euro group stages for the first time and so is Slovakia.The Welsh team had a great run in the qualifiers losing only match. However, in the run up to the group stages they failed to win four matches in row and two of them ending up in the defeats. As it was evident in the qualifiers the Welsh are heavily dependent on their talismanic player Gareth Bale. He will like play in the hole behind the striker in the Chris Coleman’s much favoured 5-3- 2 formation. Nevertheless, the Real Madrid player will look to tear down the flanks on any opportunity.Even though Bale is singled out, he will have help from midfield with the likes of Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen. While, Allen will be protecting the three man defence, Andy King and Ramsey will look to dictate the game and control the tempo. But, they will face a daunting task of containing Marek Hamsik, the talismanic Slovakian. His runs are difficult to track so is his movement of the ball. It remains to be seen, whether Coleman would deploy a midfielder to mark Hamsik.

The Welsh defence will be marshalled by Ashley Williams and he will be supported by Collins and Davies in the centre, while Gunter and Taylor will don the role of wing backs. With Robson-Kanu struggling for fitness, Voakes will be the lone striker. As Hamsik said in one of his interviews the team are excited over taking part in the Euro for the first time. Their qualification to the group stages has been good winning seven, losing two and one ending in draw. While they look up to the Napoli playmaker to create chances and score, they can also depend onVladimir Weiss, whose pace on the wings will pose questions for Welsh wingbacks.

The Slovakians are lauded for their organised defence in the qualifiers and would like to continue the good work. Martin Skrtel will be the main stay of the defence and he will have protection from midfield in form of Juraj Kucka. The holding mid fielder will be a hard nut to crack and it will be exciting to see him marking and tracking Bale. The Jan Kozak coached side will look to play 4-2- 3-1 formation with Hamsik behind the striker Nemec. Their worry though is that they do not have out and out strikers to convert half chances. While the Welsh are slight favourites, the team that battles the nerves better will prevail - By Aditya Parankusam