Nemeth issues a warning to England over Slovakia test

Nemeth will be in opposition to Boro manager Steve McClaren, assistant coach to England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, in partisan Bratislava for Saturday's Group Seven qualifier.

England face a potential backlash from a Slovakia side still smarting after their opening defeat in Turkey last month.

Head coach Ladislav Jurkemic has made six changes to his squad and Nemeth, who incurred his wrath when he performed two-goal heroics for Boro in their victory over Sunderland only days after being ruled out of the Turkey clash with a hamstring injury, is hoping to win a reprieve.

Nemeth has since suffered a recurrence of the injury, but managed a late run-out as a substitute in high-flying Boro's 2-0 home win against Bolton on Saturday.

The 25-year-old frontman, signed on a free transfer from Inter Bratislava by the Bryan Robson-Terry Venables regime in the summer of last year, has been Slovakia's spy in the camp, working under McClaren and playing alongside England defenders Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu on Teesside.

And, irrespective of their Turkish setback, Nemeth promised that his country will need no incentive when they tackle England.

"Playing against England is a big motivation for us and we can win,'' declared Nemeth.

"We have made chances against big teams before and been unlucky, against Sweden and Turkey in the World Cup when we almost qualified, and we can do that again.

"England have great players in Michael Owen and Paul Scholes, and Ashley Cole is one who is very impressive.

"They can certainly qualify and could go on to win the championships.

"We only get crowds of around 4,000 in Slovakia, but the stadium is already sold out for England - there will be 30,000 there.

"This is the game of the year for Slovakia and it is the same for the players. We do well at home and we are looking to win. We have to win or we will not qualify."

Nemeth admitted: "I don't know if I will play. I have not spoken to the manager, but I am fit and I hope to be playing - I am desperate to play in this game.

"I missed the Turkey game. I was ready but the manager thought that, because I had been injured, I couldn't play.

"Three days later I scored two against Sunderland. The manager was not happy, but I wanted to play against Turkey.

"He has made changes from the Turkey squad, he was not happy after the 3-0 defeat. He is new so he is bringing in new players.

"We have not been scoring. All the time we have to fight back after going behind and he is trying to change that.''

Nemeth endured a difficult first season with Boro because of injury problems.

"I had a bad time last season,'' he confessed. "I was injured when I came here, I had no pre-season and a hernia operation.

"Then I came back and was injured all the time when I tried to play.

"But Steve McClaren told me at the end of last season that I would have a very good season this time. He has helped me a lot.

"He is very good, the coaching is here is very good and the team is prepared.''

A tongue-in-cheek Southgate said: "We were hoping Szil wouldn't be fit!

"I don't know too much about Slovakia. He keeps telling me it's going to be an easy game for us, but I'm sure it won't be.

"He's a really good player, so if the rest are like him, it's going to be a tough game.

"He's quite an instinctive player, he waits for people to make their move and then reacts and that's difficult to defend against.''

Sunderland centre-back Stanislav Varga is among the players jettisoned by Jurkemic.

Nemeth said: "I am friends with Stan, we talk a lot on the phone. When I have a day off I go to Sunderland to visit him.

"I nearly signed for Sunderland before I came here. I spoke to people there, but we could not agree the contract, then they could not agree with my club.

"But with Middlesbrough it was very straighforward. I think Terry Venables saw me play for Slovakia against Azerbaijan and he called me. It has turned out to be a good decision for me to join Middlesbrough."

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