The Slovak national football team has had no big achievement to its name for the short time it has been in existence. Yet, just two rounds to the conclusion of this particular World Cup qualification round, they have managed to creep a full 5 points clear to the top of their group, next to such household names as Poland and the Czech Republic, and only a miracle now seems capable of stopping them on their way to the finals in South Africa.

A close look at the numbers, tough, provides little ground for talk of a groundbreaking advance in Slovak football: the combined rating of the 23 best Slovak players amounts to a paltry 1,050 points at the moment: that rating stood at 900 points back in spring.

True, the team has leaders in many compartments, such as Napoli’s Marek Hamšík (pictured) in the midfield, or Wolfsburg’s Peter Pekarik and Liverpool’s Martin Škrtel in defense. But they are almost all the Slovaks have for world-class players. For example, second among midfielders Dusan Svento of Salzburg has an overall FTBL rating of just over 40 rating points.

The Slovak will most probably play the role of outsiders in South Africa, if any role at all. With such statistics, only Asian or some CONCACAF teams will find them threatening.