Hereabouts, hardly anybody is paying attention to Slovakia (Group F, a 1-1 tie with New Zealand on Wednesday, a game against Paraguay on Sunday) but I am. You want to know how they're feeling in Slovakia, one week into the country's first World Cup adventure? The phrase "national catastrophe" can be used.
I care because I went to the capital, Bratislava, last year to cover a key qualifying game between Slovakia and next-door neighbours the Czech Republic. A terrific game that ended in a 2-2 tie, it left the Slovak supporters bitterly disappointed they had failed to beat the once mighty, cocky Czechs. But, Slovakia made it to the Word Cup, not the Czechs. That was sweet in the end.
This World Cup is a coming-of-age story, an assertion of maturity for Slovakia. A nation of 5.5 million, independent since 1993 and long over-shadowed in everything by former partners the Czechs, Slovakia has an awful lot riding on a good showing in South Africa. NHL hockey vies with soccer for the top spot on the TV sports news there. Thanks to the careers of several Slovak hockey players, the glamour of North American sports success outshines European soccer stories.
That was meant to change with this World Cup. Good young players, some at top clubs in Germany and Italy. A well-organized defence and midfield. A tough draw in Group F, for sure - facing Italy, Paraguay and New Zealand. But, surely, an opening game against lowly New Zealand would be a romp and ignite a winning attitude?
Tuesday's game was tense. The young, talented Slovaks, nervous but proud, New Zealand all underdog-hopeful. Stanislav Sestak twice came close to scoring for Slovakia, thanks to great passes from Vladimir Weiss (the manager's son) and New Zealand looked plucky but utterly outclassed. Slovakia took the with lead Robert Vittek's 50th-minute header. All they had to do was hold the lead, keep possession, keep a ragtag New Zealand team at bay. In the third minute of extra-time, New Zealand equalized. Slovakia's World Cup start sputtered. New Zealand's performance was the big story.
While in Bratislva last year I became friends with a man named Milan, who works for the city. I e-mailed him after the game asking, cautiously, for a picture of the mood in Slovakia.
He wrote: "Big disappointment, disaster, a national catastrophe. Some say we have perhaps paid the newcomer's toll for being
inexperienced in how to play out an injury time at this level. I began to get nervous when I saw the way the Slovaks had passed the ball among themselves to play out the last minutes of the match. Nevertheless, I didn't quite believe the Kiwis would be able to pull off that goal."
"Now we are facing Paraguay on Sunday but this seems to be a totally different ball game as New Zealand was considered one of the weakest football team in the World Cup."
Like many Slovaks, Milan had considered going to South Africa to support his country at its first World Cup. After assessing the costs, he decided against it. Instead, he bought a big-screen TV to watch the tournament. But, like many there, when it came to Slovakia's opening game, he didn't want to watch it at home. He watched it with thousands of others at a Fan Zone in Bratislava.
It was, clearly, an unsettling thrill rude. A win looked certain and then disaster. Slovakia should not be a team riding its luck. It's a young team for a young country - a group of players known for physicality and doggedness with occasional flashes of great flair. It's a team without fear, driven, like the country, by the need to excel.
When I was in Slovakia and there as so much hope about qualifying for the World Cup, I as reminded of 1990, when the Republic of Ireland went on a wild ride through its first World Cup, reaching the quarterfinals through a series of ties and by winning on penalty kicks. Every Irish player's face and personal history was known to all 3.5 million citizens. I thought of the milk being delivered in Dublin, that summer - every milk bottle came with the name of every Irish player engraved on it. People kept those bottles. In truth, for the Irish then, there was more sustenance in the team's success than in the food and drink people consumed.
Slovakia wanted that feeling too - being enthralled by young men whose names will live forever, being proud that the little country had made it to the big time. There's no taste like that. It's the taste of being grown-up, cocky and ready to take on the world. Now Slovakia faces Paraguay and then Italy. That's some growing up required. It can happen. The Slovaks are praying for it. Praying hard now.