UEFA Euro 2016 [5pm] Wales VS Slovakia

Its been fun so far at the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament which kick-started yesterday. France got us underway when they beat Romania 2-1 thanks to Olivier Giroud and a sublime strike of a goal from West Ham United's Dmitri Payet.  Just few minutes ago, the second match in Group A was played, as Switzerland luckily hung on to beat Albania 1-0.


Moving over to Group B, by 5pm, Wales would trade tackles with Slovakia and by 8pm, the Three Lions of England kickoff their campaign against Russia.

TEAM NEWS 

Wales

• Joe Ledley, Joe Allen and Hal Robson-Kanu are fitness concerns for Chris Coleman ahead of their Euro 2016 opener against Slovakia and the Wales manager has hinted Allen could be the only one that features on Saturday.

• Andy King and Sam Vokes could benefit from the respective absences of Ledley and Robson-Kanu.

Slovakia 

• Tomas Hubocan and Norbert Gyomber are struggling with injuries and neither are expected to feature in their first group game against Wales. Dusan Svento looks set to continue at left-back in the absence of Hubocan.

• Adam Nemec and Michal Duris are vying for the right to start up front.

PREDICTION 

• Wales are one of five teams in the tournament for the first time and they will take on a Slovakia side that have been billed as the weakest team in the group, although that is an unfair tag and Chris Coleman's side will need to be fully focused to get their group campaign off to the right start. Wales slipped to a heavy 3-0 defeat in their final warm-up match against Sweden, which could have knocked some confidence from the group.

• Slovakia, meanwhile, will be in great spirits ahead of Saturday's match after beating Germany 3-1 in the build-up to the competition. They are also eight matches unbeaten and could prove the threat in this group that many were not expecting.

• These two sides haven't faced off against each other since 2007 when Wales triumphed 5-2. Before that, Slovakia thumped Wales 5-1. It would be a surprise to see a similar scoreline this time around, although a shock could be in store for the Welsh here.

VERDICT

Something tells me there is going to be an upset in the cards, both teams should score here, maybe a draw, but if a team is to win, Slovakia may just do enough to shock the Welsh team. 

VERDICT = Wales 1 - 2 Slovakia