World Cup Qualification is back with us once more and in the next 5 days we should have a much better idea who is going to qualify from Group 3.

Tonight, Slovakia face their neighbours the Czech Republic in a game that the Czechs must win if they are to have any chance at all of qualification. A win for Slovakia and they are almost over the line in the race for South Africa 2010.

Then on Wednesday evening, Slovakia travel to Northern Ireland. The Irish are currently second in the group and travel to Poland tonight, which will be a tough tie for them given their away record. However, they are very strong at home and Slovakia will hope that they play Northern Ireland in 4 days time having achieved maximum points in Bratislava against the Czechs.

Can Slovakia qualify for the World Cup? The moment of truth has arrived!

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Slovakia impress against San Marino

So it was only San Marino and a 7-0 scoreline perhaps was to be expected playing in Bratislava. Nevertheless, at times Slovakia were sublime on Saturday and the win puts them 3 points clear at the top of Group 3 with a game in hand over their nearest rivals, Northern Ireland.

From this position, Slovakia [...]

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Dolny Kubin – A jewel in Orava

The afternoon of May 1st was spent in Dolny Kubin, which is an absolutely delightful town in Orava, in Northern Slovakia. Set in a valley and with stunning views of the mountains from every part of town, Dolny Kubin is a great example of a Slovak town that has undergone a complete face-lift over the [...]

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Trampolining and Tobogganing in Donovaly Slovakia

The morning of Day Four of our holiday was spent in the ski resort of Donovaly. It was May 1st, a bank holiday in Slovakia, and the start of Donovaly’s summer season. Obviously, the main season here is during the winter, but in recent years Park Snow Donovaly has put together a superb [...]

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Bojnice Zoo and Bojnice Castle

Today’s trip was the first of two that the kids had really been looking forward to. Bojnice is a wonderful little town, west of Banska Bystrica, which is famous for both its fairytale castle and zoo. The town also boasts a falconry, Slovakia’s oldest tree and a Spa, but it was Bojnice Zoo [...]

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Kremnica and the Centre of Europe

Day 2 of our holiday was spent in the delightful town of Kremnica, famous for its Mint, which has been minting coins since the fourteenth century. There are a number of interesting museums to visit in the town, which do a splendid job of showcasing Kremnica’s history.
The town is also full of many interesting [...]

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Banska Bystrica in Central Slovakia

Banska Bystrica (pronounced Banska Bistrica) is a central Slovak town, which was to be our base for the first half of our trip around Central Slovakia. It has one of the most attractive main squares in all of Slovakia and we were fortunate enough to be staying at the Hotel Arcade, which is located [...]

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Central Slovakia Trip

I recently spent some time travelling around Central Slovakia with family and friends, which some of you may have followed on Twitter (you can follow Heart of Europe on Twitter here).
There now follows a series of posts based around that Central Slovakia Trip:
Banska Bystrica | Kremnica | Bojnice | Donovaly | Dolny Kubin [...]

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Great Night Monday (Easter Monday)

On Easter Monday, in Slovakia, boys from the village would pour water over the girls and in Western Slovakia the boys would also whip the girls with thin willow branches. If the girls wanted to stay beautiful, healthy and full of life throughout the year, they would have to gracefully accept the water soaking [...]

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Slovakia Easter – Great Night (Easter Sunday)

On Easter Sunday, in Slovakia, all the food that had been prepared the day before was taken to church to be blessed.
The blessed food was then eaten at lunchtime. Crumbs from the meal were then mixed with seeds to help crops grow and also used for healing purposes. The crumbs were also mixed with [...]

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