WHERE IS SLOVENIA?

Bit of a bummer, but I am in south west France and cannot find a bar that is showing Slovenia v England this afternoon. The result of the game is not crucial to our boys, because there are more games to go, but a win would give everyone confidence in Roy and his team, whose record has been encouraging but hardly sensational.

The game is in Ljubijana, where one of the country's international stadia exists. Slovenia was only a regional representative team until 1991, when it split from Yugoslavia to become a "country". At the beginning of the 20th Century Slovenia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the First World War Slovenia joined the Kingdom of Serbia and then Yugoslavia in 1929.

The first official match as a Slovenian XI was held against France, with Jules Rimet, whose name was on the first World Cup trophy, present as Chef de Mission. The Slovenians lost comfortably, but in 1991 at their independence, they drew with Estonia 1-1 in the first official international. 

England have only previously played Slovenia in the 2010 World Cup, winning 1-0 with a goal from Jermain Defoe and they won the first match in this qualifying league, 3-1, at Wembley.
So far, Slovenia has earned 9 points from their 5 games.