It was one of the World Cup's more emotive moments. A real shot for the family album. Vladimir Weiss, Slovakia's manager, was hugging anybody and everybody within arm's reach in the seconds after his side had beaten Italy 3-2 at Ellis Park and was about to do a bit of fist-pumping in front of the Slovakia supporters in the stands when he clapped eyes on the other Vladimir Weiss, his son, dancing about the place. The pair then shared an embrace in the heat of the euphoria that would have brought a tear to the eye of even the most cold-hearted cynic of the tournament; you know, the type that believed it was merely a month-long advertising opportunity for Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Visa and the like. For a moment, with father and son locked in arms, you just couldn't, well, beat the feeling.
Before that embrace, the World Cup had been an emotional rollercoaster for the Weiss family. Particularly Vladimir the elder, who at times during the tournament behaved with an immaturity that you might have expected from his then teenage son. It all started in the days after Slovakia's embarrassing 1-1 draw against New Zealand in their opening World Cup fixture. Twenty-four hours before their next game against Paraguay, a journalist from the Reuters news agency asked Weiss a question about the tactical approach of his team 40 seconds into the press conference, at which point he laughed, thanked Slovak journalists for being "a lot better than the foreign ones" and proceeded to walk out of the room. A couple of days later, after a 2-0 defeat to Paraguay, that admiration for the Fourth Estate of his homeland was forgotten as he directed his very definite ire at a journalist from Slovakian commercial TV station, Markiza. "Thank you. Let's go. F***ing faggots," was his response to a question about any tactical mistakes he might have made during the tournament. On his way out the door, Weiss threatened to punch the journalist in the mouth. Nice.
If his response was over the top, you could partly understand why. The questions that annoyed Weiss centred around the belief that he needed to make some changes to freshen up a Slovakia side who had managed just three shots on goal in two games. There were a number of options that any of Weiss's critics would have thought plausible but amongst them was to replace his son with Miroslav Stoch, a similar player in terms of natural ability on the ball, but a little more direct in terms of style. That he wasn't directly asked about such a possibility didn't seem to matter; he seemed to infer it was being asked anyway.
It is precisely the kind of scenario that would have been running through his mind in August of last year when he pondered handing his son his international debut in a friendly against Iceland. At the time, Vladko – as his dad calls him – had made one senior appearance for Manchester City in a meaningless end-of-season Premier League game against Bolton, having starred in the club's FA Youth Cup win the previous season. His talent on the ball was evident to anybody who watched the two legs of that final against Chelsea, but as obvious as Weiss's ability was his rawness. Still, his father believed he was ready for international football – "He has a strong mentality," he argued – capped him in Reykjavik and his son's subsequent performances at the fag-end of Slovakia's World Cup qualifying campaign, particularly the night he tormented Northern Ireland in Belfast, justified that faith.
Vladimir snr was never as talented a player in his days on the pitch. The son of a Czechoslovakian international himself, another Vladimir who won a silver medal in football at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the midfielder earned 19 caps for Czechoslovakia between 1988 and 1990 – a spell that included one appearance at the 1990 World Cup – as well as 12 appearances for the newly-independent Slovakia between 1993 and 1995, but it's as a manager he has made his real mark. Having led Artmedia Petrzalka of Bratislava to the Slovakian title in 2005, Weiss guided the club into the Champions League group stage the following season with qualifying-round victories over Celtic and Partizan Belgrade. In a group with Inter Milan, Rangers and Porto, they missed out on qualification for the knock-out stages by a single point, even beating the Portuguese side on their travels. That achievement led him to being appointed manager of Saturn Moscow the following year but he returned to Artmedia after just one season in Russia. He then won the Slovakian title for a second time in 2008, at which point the Slovakian FA came a-calling.
Weiss's success in earning Slovakia automatic passage to the World Cup from a group that featured the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Poland marked him out as a special manager, even if what he achieved at the World Cup in reaching the last 16 is somewhat clouded by some of his behaviour. As a result of his World Cup blow-ups, this Euro 2012 qualifying campaign will pass ultimate judgment on his reign, at just the time too when his son is approaching as crucial a juncture in his own career. Having signed a new contract with Manchester City until 2012 last December, Vladko was shipped out on loan to Rangers at the end of August once Roberto Mancini was sufficiently happy with the make-up of his 26-man squad. Having briefly flirted with a loan move to Celtic in August – "I would love to play for Celtic," he is quoted as saying – he ultimately joined Rangers because of the opportunity to play Champions League football. However, he wasn't trusted enough by Walter Smith to play a part in Rangers' disciplined 0-0 draw against Manchester United or indeed their 1-0 home victory against Bursaspor, the player sitting on the bench both times.
He has, though, excelled in the Scottish PremierLeague, as well you might expect him to do. Predictably for a player who looks implausibly young and is slight of build, he has been kicked about the place to date, particularly in the home game against Dundee United. "Whether it is Scotland or England then the type of player like me is always going to get kicked," Weiss said in the manner of a lad resigned to his fate. "I am trying to not get frustrated and sometimes I should play the ball a bit earlier. I am learning but I have got no problems with the tackles, at least the ones that don't break my legs. There were two yellow cards after 15 and 20 minutes. If the Dundee United right-back has a yellow card then he has got to be a bit careful, that gives me a better position to run at him."
He'll hope to be back in Mancini's plans by the time next season comes about and back in his father's even sooner. The fall-out from Slovakia's sluggish performances early in the World Cup was that Weiss was dropped by his father for the final group game against Italy. As we know, Slovakia put on their best performance of the tournament to win that afternoon and even though Weiss started the second-round defeat to Holland, there is a sense that Weiss snr doesn't believe both Stoch and his son can start in games against supposedly stronger opposition.
For example, while Vladko started the home victory against Macedonia in early September, he was on the bench for the win against Russia in Moscow. He did start, and indeed scored, against Armenia on Friday night but whether he starts against Ireland on Tuesday in Zilina is therefore very much open to debate. Perhaps it's something they have discussed in the phone calls they share every day from Glasgow to Bratislava. "It is not easy to coach him because he has an individual way of playing," said Weiss snr by way of explanation. "He has strengths but also weak points."
Just like his old man, then.
ccronin@tribune.ie
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