These days the Slovenian national team has taken centre stage. They will try to win their place at the European Championship in France next year, and accordingly Podcast Numbers (Številke) hosted Saša Jerković.
Slovenia had eliminated Ukraine from Euro 16 years ago; Jerković was the first to reach Srečko Katanec in snow-covered Kiev, and was the first to make an inteview with him; at that time the selector likeably expressed his best wishes for Christmas holidays to the spectators. The journalist still remembers that day: "Those were magical times, something special also for a journalist. I made an interview with Katanec. It was great that we were allowed to enter the locker room with our camera; the spectators might remember some really magical recordings… It was 10 degrees below zero outside, and when the camera was taken into the hot locker room, the lens steamed up immediately… some recordings of this occasion are really great. The climax was the arrival to the airport; nobody had expected it."
Sooner or later, Ukraine will probably make it…
What are the chances for the team chosen by Katanec this time? "It will sound like a cliché… Slovenia did play well when it was absolutely necessary. I see no reason why we couldn't do it again this time. The Ukraine team is such as it is. Speaking of numbers - I am concerned only by the fact that by the law of averages, once they should enter the additional qualifiers, as until now they have lost all five matches. At this moment their national team suits us best," Jerković is convinced.