Slovenia boss Sasa Kolman out to please mentor Jim McGuinness
Slovenia boss Sasa Kolman is old friends with Donegal Gaelic football manager Jim McGuinness, the pair first meeting during the All-Ireland-winning manager's spell at the Celtic academy.
Before masterminding his country's 4-0 defeat of Ireland in February, Kolman said of McGuinness: "We sat down, we discussed a couple of things and after one hour of talking to Jim, I felt like I was going to conquer the world."
After that emphatic victory, McGuinness got in touch.
"We were talking after the game on Whatsapp," Kolman smiled on the eve of today's rematch in Cork.
"He saw a headline from when I spoke to him at Celtic in 2013, that I thought I was going to conquer the world. And he said 'Sasa, you took it literally!' And I said, 'Well you told me so!'. It's not very often that we talk but it is a really nice relationship.
"I didn't watch [Donegal's win against Cavan on Sunday] because we were on the way here. But I've been reading about it. They killed them. I just follow Donegal. Because of Jim.
"I was pretty sad when he decided to go back [to Gaelic football] because I really thought that he has a big future in football. Well, maybe he still has. Wherever he is, he's doing a fantastic job."
Kolman was quite brazen after watching his side dismantle the Girls in Green three months ago. Post-match, he said he knew exactly how Carla Ward would approach the game and even anticipated what tweaks she would make if things weren't going her way.
He did, however, stress that neither he or his players expect a repeat of that result this evening, with Slovenia no longer an unknown quantity. They are within touching distance of promotion to League A of the Nations League, needing only to avoid a four-goal defeat to win the group.
"Even if I had one, I'm not going to be talking about it now," he laughed when asked if he had another masterplan.
"I'm kidding. You can't play surprises all the time in football, it doesn't work that way. We have our style of play. We are going to be definitely following that and let's see where it takes us.
"Our surprise definitely paid off [last time] is what I'll say. I don't think they were ready for that. We can't be making these surprises all the time, obviously. We have our plan, we have analysed Ireland and we need to prepare as well as possible.
"The first game doesn't mean anything. Definitely not. We know Ireland are still the favourites, the best team in the group so we need to show the character again. And to finish six [wins] from six, that would make a huge statement in Slovenia."
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