Youngest player in Yugoslavia, North Macedonia search for new zebra for unprecedented place in World Cup | international football

The task is difficult, because North Macedonia He will face Portugal, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, away from home, in one match. However, bringing down the Giants is no longer something new for the team whose first official match was held 28 years ago, But he has defeated Germany and Italy in the past 12 months, always far from his homeland.

• Check the European Qualifiers schedule
• Italy dominates, loses chances, and concedes the goal of Macedonia in the end, and misses the World Cup

Close relationship with Italy

Of all the top teams in Europe, perhaps Italy was the most likely for North Macedonia to be able to surprise and defeat in an epic way. After all, the history of football in the small Balkan country, which was part of the former Yugoslavia, is closely connected with calcium. Starting with the executioner of Azura.

The scorer of the 1-0 win over Italy last Thursday scored his career in Italy. Moreover, striker Trajkovski played for five years in the same stadium as La Favorita, for Palermo. Ball Paradoxes.

“This is for my family and for all of Macedonia,” Trajkovski said after the historic victory.

And in Italy, too, the greatest player in the history of Macedonia made his career. Goran Pandev, 38, is currently in Parma, but was revealed by Inter Milan and passed through clubs such as Lazio, Napoli and Genoa.. After 122 games and 38 goals, the national team retired from the European Championship 2021.

By the way, the continental championship was the first sign of the development of North Macedonia. It was the team’s debut in the major tournaments. The campaign was not exciting, losing three defeats in the group to the Netherlands, Austria and Ukraine, but the experience was significant.

Just before Euro 2021, in March 2021, another signal appeared. Even when played away from home, Macedonia defeated Germany 2-1 in the World Cup qualifiers. Pandev was on the field and scored one of the goals.

Pandev is our best known player, but this team showed that we have other capable players as well. The team has shown signs of development in recent years with Pandev, and this has continued even after his retirement.

The former Yugoslav Republic

Although North Macedonia has never been a champion in European football, it has a rich history. As part of Yugoslavia, I teamed up with important athletes in the past decades for a team that has always been among the key players on the Old Continent.

Before Pandev, the country’s greatest player was Darko Pancev, the striker who made history with Red Star, European champions in 1991. In the same year, Pancev won the European Golden Boot, as the continent’s top scorer.

The war of separation from Yugoslavia, which broke out soon after, prevented the Yugoslav national team, which was eliminated from the 1992 European Cup as punishment, in a process similar to what happened to Russia today, after the invasion of Ukraine.

With the end of Yugoslavia, North Macedonia appeared. Not without controversy: Greece did not recognize the name of the country, which claimed that the real Macedonia was the region in northern Greece, the historical home of the ancient kingdom ruled by Alexander the Great.

For this reason, the team started its international career under the exotic name of The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The dispute was not resolved until 2018, when an agreement with Greece changed the country’s name to North Macedonia.

Regional competitors in the lead

The country’s national team played its first match in October 1993, with a 4-1 victory over Slovenia, another newly born nation from the rubble of Yugoslavia. The biggest star in domestic football, Banshev managed to play six matches for North Macedonia between 1993 and 1995.

If the talent is in North Macedonia, the structure is still far from allowing the team to reach higher travels. Especially compared to teams from other countries of the former Yugoslavia, such as Serbia and Croatia, the current runners-up in the world.

The main things are money, organization and infrastructure. Serbia and especially Croatia are way ahead of us. The domestic league is an absolute disaster, its structure is slim and there is little money invested in football. This is a big problem. Unless that changes, we will not be able to sustain our success. The current generation has shown itself to be a good thing, but as it ages, it will be difficult to sustain these performances in the future – Zlateski’s analysis shows.

The current generation follows a tradition from the previous generation: it is closely related to Italy. The main name is midfielder Eljif Elmas, 22, who plays for Napoli. Another highlight is midfielder Ines Bardi, who plays for Levante in Spain.

Despite this offensive talent, North Macedonia’s greatest asset has been defense. This is how the team managed to hold off Italy who, if served more than 30 times, in only five times managed to actually hit the target. The strategy against Portugal is expected to be maintained on Tuesday.

The strategy will be the same: be consistent defensively and make it difficult for Portugal to get past the defences. It will be important not to concede a goal at the start of the match. Defending set pieces is crucial. Portugal is still the top candidate, but we have to make Portugal work hard. I see a way to another surprise – completed Zlatsky.