Goran Siljanovski, one of the two right-backs on the current roster, left Tuesday’s afternoon training with an ankle injury to his right leg.
Another headache for Ljubinko Drulovic and the coaching staff. After the withdrawal of Jovan Kostovski and the uncertain status of Arijan Ademi, Goran Siljanovski added to those injury woes on Tuesday. He left the first of two trainings scheduled for the day with an ankle injury to his right leg.
The medical staff immediately applied some ice to reduce the swelling, but the severity of the injury was not revealed. Still, it is very unlikely that such an injury can be healed in one week. It looks to be more like week-to-week as opposed to day-to-day. That’s why Siljanovski is expected to be withdrawn.
Assuming that transpires, then Ljubinko Drulovic would only be left with Stefan Ristovski at right-back. However, Ristovski is one yellow card away from a suspension. So, if he gets booked in Saturday’s game against Luxembourg, he misses the Spain qualifier next Tuesday. Stefan had already picked up two separate yellow cards, so one more leads to a suspension.
Besides Ristovski, Aleksandar Trajkovski, Vanche Shikov and Besart Abdurahimi are also one yellow card away from a suspension. All four players must be very careful on Saturday.
As to who could replace Siljanovski, some possible options include Aleksandar Todorovski, Daniel Georgievski, Bazhe Todorovski and Vladica Brdarovski. Georgievski had a game on Tuesday plus he plays far away in Australia, so that looks unlikely. Todorovski is closer in Poland, but Drulovic dropped him from the squad after his performance in the Slovakia match. Could he now call him up again and potentially have to rely on him vs. Spain? Tough to say. Meanwhile, Todorovski, the starting right-back of Shkendija, and Vladica Brdarovski, the backup right-back of Vardar, are only options because they are close. The coaches can just call them and they would be available to train on Wednesday.
We shall see who, if anybody, Drulovic plans to add for the injured Siljanovski.