Robert Vittek is not by any stretch of the imagination, a household name. But he has three goals in this World Cup, the same as Gonzalo Higuain, a name instantly recognizable. None bigger than the two he scored today which sparked Slovakia to the group of sixteen and sent the Azzurri crashing out to their worst World Cup showing since 1974.
He is the most experienced Slovakian international in the squad chalking up 72 caps and scoring 21 goals. This makes him second on the all time list of Slovakian goalscorers, one short of former Teessider Szilard Nemeth’s record.
Vittek to date has spent most of his playing career on the fringes of European football. After leaving Slovan Bratislava, his hometown club in 2003, he joined Nurnberg where he had one good season for the newly promoted Bundesliga club scoring 16 goals in 17 appearances. His scoring output dropped precipitously in the next season and before long he was on his way to Lille in the Ligue 1.
At 28 year of age, he was not Vladimir Weiss’s first choice when World Cup qualifying began as appearances at Lille were curtailed to a few minutes off the bench with Gervinho and Pierre Alan Frau pulling ahead of him on the depth chart. Desperate for more regular appearance he signed for Turkish club Ankaragucu in a loan deal with a desire to get back into the national squad. Ankaragucu finally bought his contract from Lille this June.
The World Cup qualifiers were a personal disaster for Vittek as he failed to net in nine appearances. His place was in jeopardy to Bochum’s Stanislav Sestak, the in form striker with six goals in six qualifiers and Miroslav Stoch, the Chelsea boy wonder who scored 10 goals in FC Twente’s successful season. Both were widely slated to be first on board with a score. But Vittek seems to have discovered his goalscoring form just in time. Born April 1, that was, unfortunately, no April Fool’s joke played on the Italians. He keeps Slovakia’s dream alive as they prepare to meet Netherlands.