The Slovenia Times

Slovenia face UEFA Nations League relegation playoffs after a tie in Vienna

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Slovenia vs Austria in their UEFA Nations League opener in September. Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA

Slovenia drew with Austria 1:1 in the final game of the UEFA Nations League in Vienna on 17 November to finish third in Group 3 of B League to head for the relegation playoffs in March.

Romano Schmid scored for Austria in the 27th minute and Adam Gnezda Čerin equalised in the 81st.

Slovenia also tied with Austria 1:1 in the home leg in September, but lost both at home and away to Norway. They defeated Kazakhstan twice.

As the top team in the group Norway have been promoted directly to League A, while Austria are heading for promotion playoffs and Kazakhstan have been relegated to League C.

Austria were the better team for most of the match, holding 68% of the ball. The ratio of shots was 22:9 and that of shots on target 4:2 in favour of Austria.

Slovenia had their first attempt on target in the 55th minute but Benjamin Šeško's shot was too weak. They stepped up in the 70th minute, but only managed to pull off a few harmless shots.

Head coach Matjaž Kek sent Andraž Šporar and Sandi Lovrić into the game in the 81st minute and Slovenia managed to equalise in the same minute as Panathinaikos midfielder Gnezda Čerin scored from just over ten metres after a pass from the right by Žan Karničnik.

Christoph Baumgartner missed Slovenia's goal by a whisker in the 88th minute, so the match ended in a tie.

In his first comment Kek said the team suffered as they hadn't in a long time, but they had shown character.

"We started off badly against the Austrian euphoria, but in the end we showed a different face. We suffered for 60, 65 minutes like we haven't suffered in a long time. But the boys showed character and got a point, even though it has little significance for us."

He wished Austria to make it into League A, and for Slovenia to stay in League B.

"Overall, the Nations League is over and we have further qualifiers to go. I expected something like this to happen after the Euro," Kek said in a reference to Slovenia making it to the knock-out stage at Euro 2024 in a historic first.

"We're aware we didn't look good in most of the Nations League matches," he said, unhappy about the negative atmosphere at home after the 1:4 loss to Norway earlier in the week.

Promotion and relegation playoff pairings will be determined in a draw in Nyon, Switzerland on 22 November.

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