Macedonia piled more misery on its fans with a dull 0:0 draw against Australia.
This was a game to forget. It was lifeless, disinteresting and completely boring. There is no other way to spin it. People in Australia had to get up early in the morning to watch a performance that was brutal to watch on every level.
Disregard the score since results are not the most important thing in friendlies. Over 90 minutes, Macedonia failed to create one quality chance. Both teams were just going through the motions, not looking interested in being out there.
After the dismal showing versus Belarus, Gjurovski made six changes in the starting lineup. Five players started from the domestic league in Darko Velkovski, Artim Polozhani, Dushko Trajchevski, Marjan Radeski and Dejan Blazhevski.
The attack was completely inept. Agim Ibraimi had another sub-par game, as did Aleksandar Trajkovski, while Dejan Blzhevski is not even worth discussing. He once again showed he has no business being on the national team The other attacker, Marjan Radeski, left just before halftime due to an injury. The fear is that he has a lung injury.
Australia was no better as they also looked disinterested. They could not get up for this game after drawing 2:2 against Germany this past Wednesday. The Socceroos created four chances during the game, two in each half, but they could not reach the back of the net. James Troisi’s effort from close range was blocked by Darko Velkovski in the 12th minute, Martin Bogatinov saved a shot from Nathan Burns in the 30th minute, the 57th minute saw a header from a good position go just over the goal, while backup keeper Kristijan Naumovski made a good save in the 66th minute to deny Australia.
Highlights:
Only 1,000 fans showed up as there was booing throughout the match, including at halftime and after the final whistle. That was fully deserved after such a performance. Surely, Boshko Gjurovski needs to save face and resign. His player selections, by over relying on domestic league players, proved to be a complete disaster. The players have tuned him out. That was a terrible response after the Belarus qualifier.