Macedonia will host European champions Spain on the renovated National arena Philip II of Macedon on 12th August, as part of the 100-years anniversary of football in Macedonia.
Babunski officially U21 coach
The board of the Macedonian football federation has officially hired Boban Babunski as the coach for the under 21 national team, on the meeting held today in Ohrid. His assistants will be named on the next meeting.
Macedonia moves up to the 53rd position
Macedonia moves up 11 positions on the FIFA ranking list and is now placed on the 53rd position for July 2009. The progress came after the draw against Norway and the win over Iceland in the World Cup 2010 qualifications last month.
Youth national teams friendlies
U17 and U19 national teams have played friendly matches with their counterparts from Albania. U19 were hosts, while U17 visited Albania. Both first matches ended in a draw.
Macedonia beat Iceland
With the goals of Aco Stojkov and Filip Ivanovski, Macedonia beat Iceland with 2:0 and finally won after 5 games without a win. The chances for the second place in the Group 9 are still good, but now Macedonia must beat Scotland and Norway, both away in September.
“We will beat Iceland”
Same as before Norway, at the press conference before Iceland, the Macedonian national team players and the coach are very confident about a win tomorrow. They want a revenge for the 1:0 defeat in Reykjavik, they are highly motivated and will do anything to get the crucial 3 points.
Macedonia held by Norway
Macedonia failed to win and played only 0:0 at home with Norway in the qualifications for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Many chances weren’t converted into goals, but at least there was a good play by the midfielders, something that in the past matches was the worst part of our team.
“Norway will remain on their 2 points”
At today’s press conference in hotel Stone Bridge, the new national team coach, Mirsad Jonuz, declared that Macedonia will attack the three points tomorrow. Goalkeeper Jane Nikoloski isn’t afraid of Norway, but is aware of their quality, same as Goran Popov who believes that the Macedonian defense can stop the Norwegian counter attacks. Nikolce Noveski
U21 squad for the friendly vs Serbia announced
The Macedonian U21 national team will play a friendly match away to Serbia U21 in Zlatibor on June 7th. The caretaker coach Boban Babunski who took over Jonuz’s position who moved to the seniors, has announced the squad of 21 players.
Macedonia still on the 64th position
Macedonia stayed on the 64th position on the FIFA ranking list for June 2009, same as May and April because there was no activity in the last months. The 64th place is the worst since October 2007 when Macedonia was on the 75th position. Macedonia has 515 points, eight more then last month, but three