Roman Jerebic* – or, more splendidly, ????? ??????? – is a man in South Africa, and in a hurry. He was quick as a shot to volunteer to answer questions ahead of today’s England v Slovenia clincher, stressing his own acquaintance with several members of his national team, but then disappeared. He resurfaces just in time with these last-minute, no-frills responses …
So you’e beaten Algeria and drawn against the United States. What is your verdict on Slovenia’s tournament so far?
Slovenia has displayed more than good game so far and has great potential for high ranking..
When you qualfiied and saw the other teams in your group, what were your thoughts and how
far did you believe Sloveia could go?
Nothing special. In the WC only the best teams from all over the world qualify. Attractive but.. All teams are favourites against smallest country in the competition.
What about the World Cup generally? Some of the games have been fairly dull but do any stand out for you as being worth remembering?
I would not say that the games are boring .. (but) far too much now is about tactics and less about pleasure..
Tell us about Slovenia as a footballing nation and as a country – do you ever regret, in footballing or any other terms, the break-up of Yugoslavia?
Never .. Whole Slovenia is proud of the successes of our boys …
Which of your players do you regard as the strongest and in which positions are there weaknesses? I believe you played with several of them at lower levels; are you still in contact with anyone form those days?
Honestly, the most strongest man is our goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.. Weakness? Maybe wings.. We are still waiting for Brecko and Jokic day.. Yes, I played with almost all of them and of course, we are still in contact with guys..
And what of England? Who are the players you fear and where do you see our shortcomings? Did you think we played as bdly against the USA as some English people have said?
England is a great disappointment for me on this World Cup.. Names like Lampard, Terry, Gerrard, Rooney, Defoe and others should easily win this tournament.. Yes, England played very, very badly against the USA
Is the Slovenian press as critical and intrusive as the British variety when it comes to football stars? is there anything like our media’s treatment of the WAGS (wives and girlfriends of players)?
The whole of Slovenia is proud of the achievement of such a small country and their players.. Any result against three favourites in our group was a success.. Nothing special with wives and girlfriends.. We do not have David and Victoria Becham in our country.. And we are happy because of that..
A lot of Salut! Sunderland readers, and supporters of other Premier League teams, are much
more passionate about their clubs than about the national team. Do you support a team in Slovenia and do you understand such preferences?
I do not support any of teams in Slovenia.. I am from Ljubljana and I prefer Lj club (NK Olimpija), but I am not fan of that team..
There has been relatively little controversy so far (at time of writing). Does this mean the referees are winning the battle for fair play over cheating (diving, feigning injury, trying to get opposing players show red or yellow cards. shirt-pulling etc)?
In short – I (am) disappointed with the refereeing..
Who is your favourite team in the World Cup apart from Slovenia and who do you want to
win/or think will win if it cannot be your country?
My favourite is Spain and I hope they will win World Cup in South Africa..
Have you any knowledge of Sunderland AFC and have you ever seen us play?
Black Cats? Hmm.. J I know all of your history.. Yes, I saw your team played against Arsenal in London in February.. You lose by two goals..
Who are the foregin players, any nationality, you most admire?
All of players in FC Barcelona.. I like Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, D. Villa,……….
What will be the score between England and Slovenia?
I hope Slovenia will win.. 2:1 wil be
great..
Roman Jerebic on ????? ???????:Roman lives in Ljubljana, likes the South Park TV series and offers this philosophical thought on Facebook: “Every day when I get up and look at the list of 50 richest people in Sloveniji. If I am still not on the list I go to work.”
But if you think he is holding back a little with his replies, just remember than compared with one Everton fan last season – click here – he is postively verbose.
All in the same boat Bill. I agree. I think that the ball is spoiling the competition to some degree as there have been few examples (if any) of successful long range shooting. We don’t have the same altitude issues here of course, but the trajectory of this ball is so completely different. It just doesn’t arc or dip in the same way at all.
The ball coupled with the altitude is doing all kinds of strange things. I suspect some of the score lines would be very different, using an older ball. But at least everyone’s in the same boat.
Great comments Bill & Luke.
The Mexican keeper is terrified of this ball I reckon. We had a `lads v Dads`game at the weekend at my son`s football practice. (Fathers Day here). We were playing with a WC ball and let me tell you it doesn`t half lift. I cracked one with my left foot from distance and fully expected the ball to drop a couple of feet under the bar. Instead it flew about three feet over the bar and kept on rising. I couldn`t believe how far it went. It would never have happened with a regular ball. Perez has taken the policy decision to punch everything. The problem seems to be less related to `handling`but because it also bounces significantly more than a normal ball it`s difficult to grab as it comes off the body. Julio Cesar seems to have mastered how to deal with it, but a lot of other keepers are really struggling with it.
Long words like “gracious” and “glorious” confuse him I’m afraid.
Also this interview just reinforces the ‘dull Eastern European’ stereotype of people from a communism rule still trying to find a voice. Tell the minimum and nothing more!
Have to envy their national pride, though.
At least this time, with a varying degree of tunelessness, most of the England side sang the national anthem. Not Mr. Rooney, though. Makes you want to smack that disdainful expression off his face.
Mexico are certainly the toughest team Argentina have faced so far and the Argentinians may make the mistake of going in too sure of themselves. If Mexico can start fast and put some real pressure on, it could pay off. I’m not overly confident about Oscar Perez in the Mexican goal, though.
Messi has been rather one dimensional for me. His tactic of cutting in from the right and running square across the face of the box was handled pretty well for the most part by the Greek defence. That doesn’t stop the commentators getting over excited as soon as he goes past somebody though. It will be very interesting to see how Argentina play against Mexico. In the last WC in the same contest the Mexicans upped the pace of the game when they got the ball. Argentina don’t like that; preferring a slower game in which they can quicken the tempo in the final third of the field. This one promises to be an interesting encounter and not necessarily the easy ride that a lot of people will be predicting for Argentina. Mexico will give them a really hard time.
He’s right about the refereeing. Some of it has not been good. I hope he’s right about the scoreline, too.
Am I the only person ANYWHERE who thinks Messi has been a bit disappointing so far in this tournament?