The Macedonian national team has been preparing in Soestduinen, near Utrecht in the Netherlands since 26th. With ten trainings before the match on Wednesday, the players and the coach Katanec hope that Macedonia can surprise the Netherlands for the third time.
Katanec announced the squad vs the Netherlands
Macedonian national team coach, Srečko Katanec, announced a squad of 23 players for the FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifier against the Netherlands away in Amsterdam. There is one new name in the squad, the 30-years-old midfielder Vulnet Emini from Macedonian First League member Renova.
Dutch squad for upcoming qualifier
Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk has announced the 25-men-squad for the following qualifying matches for Netherlands. Macedonia will meet Netherlands on 1st of April at 20.45 CET on Amsterdam ArenA as part of the 9th qualification group for WC 2010.
Macedonia – Netherlands 1:2
Another good performance by the Macedonian national team against big team, but still Holland proved to be a big favorite and succeed to get the first points in Skopje in the WC 2010 qualifications.
Macedonia ranked 56th by FIFA
According to the September FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings List, Macedonia moved down for 2 positions and is now in the 56th place.
Group 9 teams friendlies
All 5 teams from the 9th Qualification group for WC 2010 have used 20th of August to play friendlies that will serve as last preparations before the start of the qualification tournament.
Hristov in Den Bosch, Bajevski in Mechelen
Two strikers and former members of the Macedonian national team have moved in new clubs. Gjorgi Hristov, the current leading striker of the Macedonian national team signed for the Dutch club Den Bosch and Aleksandar Bajevski signed for the Belgian KV Mechelen.