Germany advanced to the round of 16 of Euro 2016 as winners of Group C and will face Slovakia in Lille's Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Sunday.
Seeing as the world champions are in the tougher half of the Euros bracket—alongside teams such as Spain, Italy, hosts France and England—they would perhaps have preferred to come in second and face Switzerland in the round of 16, even though, on paper, that would have been the tougher draw.
However, Germany know Slovakia, who qualified thanks to a win over Russia and a draw with the Three Lions, are no pushovers. At the end of May, the World Cup holders lost their penultimate warm-up match against Jan Kozak's side 3-1 in Augsburg.
That game can hardly serve as a preview for Sunday's meeting, of course. Assistant coach Thomas Schneider said as much in a press conference on Thursday:
Germany were without many important players in the friendly, as Manuel Neuer, Mats Hummels, Toni Kroos, Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller were unavailable. Head coach Joachim Low used the match to experiment with new faces and different tactical setups, giving debuts to Joshua Kimmich, Julian Weigl and Julian Brandt.
Most importantly, a storm rendered the second half of the game—which started after a prolonged half-time of 40 minutes—pointless. The following photo demonstrates the conditions during the second period:
The pitch conditions in Lille haven't been great, either, with UEFA calling it "irreversibly damaged," per BBC Sport, but a new playing surface will be installed before the match on Sunday.
Having said all that, there were still some things to take away from Slovakia's win over Germany.
Most importantly, perhaps, is that one should never underestimate a side that includes Marek Hamsik in top form.
His incredible strike from distance levelled the match in Augsburg when nothing was going Slovakia's way. Germany had been dominant and went in front through a Mario Gomez penalty in the 13th minute, wasting numerous opportunities to double the lead until the Napoli midfielder took matters into his own hands and fired a rocket right next to the corner of the goalpost.
The 28-year-old has continued his strong run of form with good performances in France, including another beautiful goal against Russia—a true contender for the best goal of the tournament so far. Lukas Vrablik described the moment for the Guardian: "He collected the ball outside the area, took one touch to control it, then another to turn a defender before, without looking up, bending a beautiful right-foot shot past Igor Akinfeev and into the top corner."
Hamsik displayed his all-around game in the 2-1 win, also assisting Vladimir Weiss' opener with a well-timed, arching long ball from his own half.
The midfielder has developed into a more complete player under first-year head coach Maurizio Sarri at Napoli:
He is capable of influencing the game from anywhere on the pitch, creating for himself and team-mates, and he can turn a game on its head with a stroke of genius at any time. Matt Barlow characterised the 28-year-old for the Daily Mail ahead of Slovakia's meeting with England on Monday:
Hamsik can create, and his long pass from deep in his own half to Vladimir Weiss for the opener against Russia was evidence of his vision, range and appreciation of the game situation.
Having played in Serie A for more than a decade, he is schooled in the Italian quality of realising when to change the game's tempo for maximum effect.
His technique is excellent and he can split a defence with long or short passes, and he can dribble. Just ask Wales because he sliced through their defence, past three defenders early in the game in Bordeaux.
Had Ben Davies not recovered to clear, it might have been a different game and Group B might have a different complexion ahead of the final round of fixtures.
Kozak has gotten the best out of Hamsik by playing him in a free role behind the lone striker in Slovakia's 4-2-3-1.
"I was given a freedom and I try to use it as much as possible,” Hamsik said, per Vrablik. "Of course, it is a sign of coach Kozak’s belief in my skills. On the other side, I now have bigger responsibility and I have to work really well with all my team-mates. Now I can go a little deeper to collect the ball and try to start attacks by finding my team-mates."
Hamsik is the clear focal point of Slovakia's game, but it would be unfair—and simply wrong—to describe them as a one-man team.
AC Milan's Juraj Kucka, for example, uses his physicality to allow Hamsik to roam freely. Centre-back Jan Durica has played very well in France so far:
Hamsik would not be able to unfurl his creative genius if the team didn't work as a cohesive unit defensively. Tactics blogger Tom Payne described Slovakia's defensive organisation in the England match for Spielverlagerung.com:
After quickly dropping back to cover the spaces in front of their own box, Slovakia relied often on a numerical dominance to stop England’s attacks, as they got numbers back well in between the ball and the penalty area. A fairly tight defensive line was in the way of a number of English attempts to break through, whilst their deeply-situated defensive approach made it difficult for [Jamie] Vardy to utilise his pace and runs in behind.
Goalkeeper Matus Kozacik, meanwhile, despite looking a bit awkward when he allowed Gareth Bale to score a free-kick from distance in the first match, has been a reliable presence between the sticks and shown to be a good shot-stopper.
Of course, there are some notable weaknesses in the Slovakian team as well.
The two centre-backs often look lost in possession. Payne noted: "When moving forward with the ball, Slovakia were somewhat limited in comparison to their superior opponents. The centre-backs had a fair amount of time on the ball yet they were unable to consistently progress it upfield through the midfield against some strong English pressing."
Premier League fans know Martin Skrtel is bound to make a costly mistake at some point.
Slovakia also don't have a bona fide striker, rather playing midfielder Ondrej Duda up front. His movement enables wingers Weiss and Robert Mak to drive into the middle at times, but he is not the physical presence the team could use for the many long balls the defenders play.
Against Germany, the central Europeans will probably rely heavily on a defensive-minded approach and hope they can create danger from counter-attacks. The world champions will have to remain patient around the penalty box and avoid turnovers at all costs.
Lacking a traditional holding midfielder, Germany are at times vulnerable to transitional attacks. Even against Northern Ireland on Tuesday, they left spaces a better—or at least more adventurous—side could have exploited.
Still, though, Germany don't need to devise a special game plan for this match. It will likely follow a fairly familiar script: They will have a vast majority of the ball and will have to find an opening in a massive defensive block. Also, they have to hope Hamsik doesn't score a belter from an impossible distance or angle.
Germany will be overwhelming favourites on Sunday, but don't be surprised to see them struggle with Slovakia.
Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist who also writes forYellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.