At the end of yesterday’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against England, which Slovenia lost with 1:0, Katanec praised his players. "In the locker room I told the boys to be proud. They played an excellent match and did not deserve to lose."

Despite the defeat, team captain Boštjan Cesar saw many positive things on Thursday evening: "We're disappointed, but we proved that we can compete with the English. We wanted to win, but sadly it didn't turn out that way. The whole team played well in defense, we covered Kane, who is in good form, very well. He didn't have any real chances tonight, but at the end he took advantage of the one half-chance."

Although most of the public has already ruled out all chances of Slovenia qualifying for the World Cup, in theory it still has a chance. Slovenia can end up winning second place in the group with only one scenario: on Sunday it has to beat Scotland, and at the same time Slovakia has to draw or lose against Malta.