National team coach Goce Sedloski spoke at the press-conference before Saturday’s match against Scotland and took the complete responsibility for the negative results.

photo by FFM

The two defeats in the opening two matches of the Nations League against Switzerland (0:3) and Slovenia (0:2) made the fans angry as Macedonia under Sedloski has not scored a goal in all 6 matches since his debut in March.

But the coach is aware of that and asks for patience as he is building a new team, a team for the future. And for doing that he is not having opponents of the likes of Malta, Gibraltar, Latvia, Andorra etc., with all due respect to them. Instead, since he took over he faced Denmark, Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Türkiye, Switzerland and Slovenia.

“We have rejuvenated the national team, and I will continue to do so. Let the criticism be directed at me. In agreement with the Federation, I will proceed with the process of developing new players. We want to build a new national team, and I remain committed to that process to the end. It takes time; things cannot happen overnight,” Sedloski stated.

“When I arrived, I knew what I was getting into and the kind of national teams we would be facing. I work, I observe, I follow the game, and I know what I’m doing. I want these guys to be satisfied and to bring happiness to Macedonia. In the match against Slovenia — especially in the first half — we saw things I was pleased with, and I want us to keep up that rhythm without playing defensively,” the coach added.

Regarding the team, he did not want to reveal the starting eleven, but said that Ezgjan Alioski has recovered and will be available. With him at the press-conference were present Bojan Miovski and Jani Atanasov, so probably both will start.

“Scotland is a team that plays with long balls and puts a lot of balls into the penalty area. We mustn’t play their game; instead, we have to neutralize it with our own response. They have players from the Premier League, the Championship and Serie A. We are ready to take the pitch, show character, and play the way we know how,” concluded Sedloski.

Macedonia hosts Scotland on Saturday at 20.45 CET at the National Arena Todor Proeski in Skopje in Round 3 of League B of the UEFA nations League.

Past encounters:

G4 W1 D1 L2 GD 3:5
06.09.2008 1:0 win (match report) Q
05.09.2009 0:2 defeat (match report) Q
11.09.2012 1:1 draw (match report) Q
10.09.2013 1:2 defeat (match report) Q