Half-season completed

 We are done with the autumn part with the 17th football championship, league one. What seemed to be rather uninteresting competition at the beginning, turned out to be one of the better championships in recent history. Any team can beat any other team!

And who deserves the most to go on the beginning of this text, if not Makedonija Gjorche Petrov. Arguably the best team so far and most deservedly on the first place. Only 8 goals conceded in 16 played matches, only one defeat, 'only' 7 points ahead of second placed Milano. The best thing about Makedonija Gjorche Petrov is that you cannot point out a single player who has been the best or was the team-leader. As they say, there is no 'I' in team. Washington, De Brito, Ilievski, Pavlovic, Ambourouet, Guobadia… Looks like champions to me.

Right after Makedonija we have every other team. Milano, everybosy still expects their fall after their owner was arrested, but on the contrary. We only see rise from the Kumanovo-based team.Two teams are right behind Milano, following the club like a shadow. Champions Rabotnicki, a team that started the season with 3 players, is on the third place. A proof that money isn't everything and that even without Trifun Kostovski they can be on the top of the table. Renova comes on the 4th place with the same amount of points as Rabotnicki. Their only 'failure' this season can be the fact that they are eliminated from the cup and didn't qualified for the semi-final, but right at the beggining of this season, when Renova was the only Macedonian team that made it through to the second round in one of the European cups, it was clear that they will have a succesful season.

On the fifth place we have the team with the most trophies won, a team that was the favorite for winning the double crown this season, a team that seems doomed to be in crisis in recent history – Vardar. Despite they had financially stable sponsor they are in a row of 11 matches without victory. That streak made Vardar's fans to lose their patience and attack the players. A cause or a reason, after the attack president Trifun left the club and once again Vardar is without a sponsor. Maybe Vardar was the team that was looking most for the season break.

With Vardar we close the top-of-the-table and the battle for the title and a place in European cups. We continue with the next 6 teams that are within a reach of 3 points and will lead a fierce battle for avoiding the relegation and the play-out spots in the spring part. Turnovo Horizont and Sileks with 17 points, Pobeda has 16, Pelister 15 and Metalurg and Napredok with 14 points on the last 2 places. Any team can beat any team over here and surely once again we will have a tough battle for finishing at least eighth. Pobeda are 7 league matches without a win, while Pelister only in the last round managed to escape the last place. Metalurg are already testing new players and we might see a stronger team from sping. Sileks and Napredok along with Turnovo will probably rely on their good home matches in the race for a first league place once again next season.

All in all, great matches, great new players, there is potential in the macedonian football. Bright times will come eventually and people will stop supporting Manchester, Barcelona or Juventus and will turn themselves to their local clubs – the clubs they should be proud of.

This article does not end here. On the second page we've gathered some statistics that are worth seeing.

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