At today’s press conference in hotel Stone Bridge, the new national team coach, Mirsad Jonuz, declared that Macedonia will attack the three points tomorrow. Goalkeeper Jane Nikoloski isn’t afraid of Norway, but is aware of their quality, same as Goran Popov who believes that the Macedonian defense can stop the Norwegian counter attacks. Nikolce Noveski definitely will skip the game.
“Yesterday we came back to Skopje to adjust to the weather conditions here because these things can have a big influence. We know that tomorrow will be also very hot as today. Our preparations were good, without any pressure just with few small problems. Noveski will most probably miss the game because of the injury, while the rest of the players are in good condition and they all expect tomorrow in a calm game to get a positive result. There are some minor injuries that aren’t important. Yesterday I have told to all the players individually how we will work today and tomorrow. They also know the starting 11, but I can’t announce it to the public, maybe later.” – said the national team coach Mirsad Jonuz.
“This squad has quality, we are concentrated only on the game against Norway. We aren’t fooling around that this will be an easy game because our opponent is a very good team, they know how to play and they play quick. Their points on the table can fool us, they have only 2 points and I hope that they will remain on those 2 points after the game too. We are preparing for a tough game, the atmosphere in the team is excellent and I hope that will make a good result.” – optimistically said goalkeeper Jane Nikoloski.
“Same as my closest college in the defense, Jane Nikoloski, I want to say that on yesterday’s training and also today we have trained well, in both attack and defense. We are more concentrated on this first game against Norway because it’s very important. I think it will be one of the hardest games we have ever played, we must give our best. The atmosphere among us is great, all the players are ready to give their best to beat Norway and than we will concentrate on Iceland. I think that at the end everything will be good for us” – was the comment of the Dutch cup winner, Goran Popov.
Asked about the tactics, Mirsad Jonuz said: “I have analyzed many former matches that this team has played and I’ve pointed to the players that games like those against Israel, the Netherlands, Russia where in two counter attacks we let two goals in out net, can’t be repeated tomorrow. We must slowly build our play. I know that the striker Iversen won’t play, so the Norwegian coach will probably change their stile. They play a mix of Scandinavian and English football, the biggest threat to our goal will be their best player, Carew who can easily collect balls from free kick or long passes and score. Our biggest problem is the midfield, where our players must function well in both attack and defense. We have players that are good in the attack, but weak in the defense, so we must find a way where we will neutralize the play of our opponents who are physically excellent. All in all, we will have to defend well and also slowly build our game. We are ready for counter attacks and I think that our defense is prepared for that. We also have good strikers who can and must give their best.”
The game will be played tomorrow at 17.45 CET on the National Arena Filip II of Macedon in Skopje.