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The Slovak national team appointed Jan Kocian as their new coach on Thursday, replacing the resigned Dusan Galis, who is pursuing a political career.
J. Kocian worked as an assistant coach for the Slovak national team from 1993 to 1995 and recently worked as a strategist for the lower league team Sportfreunde in Siegen, Germany.
The 48-year-old Slovak will try to save the heavily criticized Slovak national team and is prepared to overcome the barrier of the 2008 European Championship qualification cycle and qualify for the European Championships.
"I did not come to the Slovak national team as a Messiah," said J. Kocian. "But I still have hope and do not believe that we have lost all chances to qualify for the 2008 European Championship."
Frantisek Laurinec, president of the Slovak Football Federation (SFZ), announced at a press conference that the coach's contract will end after the 2010 World Cup qualifying matches.
J. Kocian's first test will take place on November 15th, when Slovakia, under his leadership, will play a friendly match against Bulgaria. The 2008 European Championship qualifiers for Slovakia will continue in March next year, when they will test their strength against Cyprus away.
Slovakia suffered a crushing defeat in their last qualifying match of this year against the German team (4-1) and currently sits in third place in Group D after playing four matches with six points. The Czech Republic is in first place with 10 points from four matches, and Germany is in second place with nine points, but having played one match less.
