Slovakia star Miroslav Stoch believes he will be fit enough to face New Zealand in their opening World Cup match.
Midfielder focused on international matters after Chelsea exit
Slovakia star Miroslav Stoch believes he will be fit enough to feature in his country's opening World Cup match against New Zealand.
The Slovakians' Group F campaign gets underway on Tuesday against the Kiwis but Stoch has been a doubt for the match in Rustenburg after sustaining a knee injury.
The former Chelsea man had a scan on the problem on Saturday and the 20-year-old says he is in contention to play despite training separately from the rest of the squad at their Pretoria base.
He said: "The doctors said it is not serious and in two or three days I should be fit.
"Today I had an MRI, hopefully the result will be good and I will train soon and play on Tuesday."
Stoch went into the tournament by ending his four-year association with Chelsea, where he struggled to make regular first-team appearances after joining in 2006.
Concentrate
He spent last season on loan at Dutch champions FC Twente under the stewardship of Steve McClaren in order to play top level football after making five substitute appearances in four years at Stamford Bridge.
The midfielder has since signed a four-year contract with Turkish outfit Fenerbahce and Stoch revealed he did not want to be distracted by his future while on international duty.
He added: "I wanted to be sure before the World Cup, because you never know what can happen. I didn't want to be worrying.
"I decided with my agent that it would be better for me to know where I'm going to play next season.
"We wanted to do this before the World Cup so now I can concentrate just on the national team."
Slovakia are appearing in their first World Cup finals since becoming an independent nation and will take on current holders Italy and Paraguay in their other fixtures.
