As announced at last night’s press conference, coach Goce Sedloski made significant changes to the starting lineup compared to the eleven players who started and disappointed against Switzerland on Saturday. Only Dimitrievski, Gashtarov and Elmas were oncve again starters.
photo by NZS
Sedloski opted for Stole Dimitrievski (serving as captain today) between the posts; the defense featured Din Alomerović on the left and Andrej Stojchevski on the right, with Anes Meljichi and Mario Mladenovski in the center. The midfield consisted of Matej Gashtarov, Jani Atanasov, and Agon Elezi; Elif Elmas played on the left wing and Dimitar Mitrovski on the right, while Azer Omeragić lead the attack. Injured players Boban Nikolov and Ezgjan Alioski were unavailable for this match, while the coach decided to leave Sebastian Herrera and Tihomir Kostadinov out of the squad.
Slovenia started aggressively and early in the 2nd minute Vipotnik hit the crossbar. The Macedonians managed to consolidate after the opening pressure, but did not create chances. In the first half only Elezi threatened on two occasion, once was blocked and the second attempted missed the target.
The hosts eventually broke the dead lock 10 minutes after the break. Begić slipped the ball into the penalty area and Lovrić met it with a first-time shot from a tight angle which beat Dimitrievski with the help of a deflection off Meljichi.
Few minutes later Bardhi and debutante Maleski were introduced as Macedonia went for an equalizer. it has to be noted that a constant threat was the Macedonian left side where the Slovenians were easily getting past Alomerović, who today was not up to the challenge. Stojchevski was right behind him as he made too many mistakes and bad passes.
Later Stankovski and near the end Miovski came in, while Musliu substituted Meljichi who got injured. Macedonia went all in and that resulted with a second conceded goal after a good counter attack. Šturm sent Matko through on goal with an excellent pass and the later beat the on-rushing Dimitrievski for his first international goal.
Despite the defeat, the Macedonian players showed hunger for playing and a desire for win. Today they probably played the best match under Sedloski. Elmas and Gashtarov were especially active and stood out, but also Meljichi and Mladenovski in the defense showed that they are an serios option for the future matches.
The goals:
Macedonia suffered the second defeat in the second match of the Nations League. However, worrying is the fact the team hasn’t scored under the new coach for 6 matches! Also, Macedonia has no won a match, competitive or friendly, for 10 matches in a row!