Goran Pandev has surpassed Artim Shakjiri on the list of appearances made for the Macedonian national team.
Pandev played in both recent FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifiers against Wales and Scotland, the latter being his 73rd official appearance for Macedonia. Legendary player Artim Shakjiri collected 72 caps throughout his playing career.
Just in March of this year, Goran Pandev had 68 appearances and was fifth on the list. With the two clashes against Belgium back then, he tied Igor Mitreski with 70 caps. Pandev missed the two June friendlies but added another appearance in the friendly against Bulgaria in August. That moved him past Mitreski, leaving him just one cap behind Shakjiri.
Now, after partaking in the Wales and Scotland qualifiers, Pandev is officially third with on the number of appearances for Macedonia with 73 caps. The only two players above him are Veliche Shumulikoski, who has accumulated 84 appearances, and defender Goce Sedloski who retired after playing in his 100th game for Macedonia. As for Shumulikoski, he is still active and under consideration for the NT, but he is no longer a regular. Veliche is currently playing for the Slovácko B team in the Czech Republic.
The 30-year-old Pandev is expected to play until at least the next qualifications for EURO 2016. He could surpass Shumulikoski, but it is hard to predict whether he will be able to reach Sedloski. Goran’s next chance to add to his tally will come next month in the final two WC 2014 qualification games against Wales and Serbia.
When it comes to goals scored, Pandev is number one on the list with 26 goals, 10 more than Gjorgji Hristov, and then followed by Artim Shakjiri (15), Goran Maznov (10), Ilcho Naumoski (9), etc.