Slovakia coach Francesco Calzona stressed how proud he was of his team's performance at Euro 2024 despite getting knocked out after a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to England on Sunday.
Ivan Schranz put Slovakia ahead in the 25th minute and they held on to that lead until the fifth minute of stoppage time, when Jude Bellingham equalized.
Within the first minute of extra time, Harry Kane headed in England's winner, crushing Slovakia's dreams.
"I want to say again how proud of my team I am. I told them they did a great job, they were fantastic. We were on a par with all our opponents, we played attacking football and we had chances to score. I'm very proud of them, they're clearly all very disappointed because we were so close to making it, but this is football," Calzona said after the match.
"We conceded a goal when there were only a few seconds left, through a player who plays [for Real Madrid]. It's a matter of a few centimetres and you're punished. Maybe we could have defended it better, but that's what happens," he added.
Slovakia were Euro 1976 winners as part of then Czechoslovakia, but were looking to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time as an independent nation in their third attempt at a big event.
They stunned Belgium 1-0 in their first Group E game and advanced as one of the best third-placed teams after all nations in the group finished on four points.
Defender Dávid Hancko didn't hide his disappointment: "I haven't been so sad about football in a long time. I know it's just a game, but we were very close to something special; something we dreamed of.
"We did everything we could to make it happen, but in the end it turned on its head. Bellingham's equalizer was a dagger to the heart."
