After Goran Popov, Goran Pandev and Nikolce Noveski have also been allowed to leave the national team due to injuries.
Goran Pandev and Nikolce Noveski could not make it to Skopje yesterday for the start of preparations but flew directly to Ohrid today since John Toshack wanted all 24 players present for the national team. The injured players who were nursing minor injuries also had to show up in order to get examined by the doctor. Toshack ordered this to make sure that no player was faking an injury.
Two days ago, FFM’s official website mentioned that Pandev and Noveski were healthy and expected to play but that was not the case. After being examined by the national team doctor Viktor Kamiloski, it was discovered that neither player would be able to play against Albania on 15 November so they were allowed to leave and return to their club teams in order to continue their recoveries.
The other player in doubt for the Albania friendly, Ivan Trickovski, remains questionable for the game. Trickovski trained separately today and will undergo an individual program over the next couple of days under the guidance of the medical team. The doctor will then decide whether Trickovski will be available for the upcoming match but it’s a longshot at this point to risk him in a friendly.