Macedonia has officially begun the preparations for the World Cup 2014 qualifications tournament.
The majority of the national team players are already in Skopje and will have their first training later today at 18.00 CET at the National Arena Philip II of Macedon. Aleksandar Todorovski has been withdrawn from the squad due to an injury, while Darko Tasevski will be the last player to arrive in Skopje, making the long journey from Israel.
Janevski, along with his assistants Mane Manev and Nedzat Shabani, has decided to make some changes to the squad. Vardar’s duo of Dragan Gjorgiev and Ostoja Stjepanovikj have been added to the senior team for the upcoming two qualifiers against Croatia and Scotland, while midfielder Stefan Spirovski has been sent to the U21 team who still has a small chance to finish in the top two of the standings. In addition, Ivan Trichkovski is nursing an injury that has forced him to miss Club Brugge’s last two games so Gjorgiev, who has been in good form with Vardar, will provide added cover and depth for the upcoming matches. Stjepanovikj is a midfielder who will take the place of Spirovski. Janevski has mentioned that he wants to have two players at every position.
“We have officially started the preparations for the two matches against Croatia and Scotland. We have analyzed Croatia’s style of play and we feel Gjorgiev and Stjepanovikj can be useful for our team. Tonight, we will have a lighter training since many of the players were in action over the weekend and need rest, while tomorrow we will have two trainings. The U21 team has a chance for an excellent result against Northern Ireland, and I believe Spirovski can help in achieving that” – manager Chedomir Janevski stated on FFM’s official website.
Israeli Alon Yefet has been appointed by UEFA to be the main referee of the Croatia vs. Macedonia qualifier. His two assistants will be fellow countrymen Amihay Mozes and Abed Al Ramili.