Manager John Toshack will deploy a 3-4-2-1 formation against Slovakia with Nikolce Noveski as the captain for Macedonia.

The speculation was that Toshack would return to a 4-2-3-1 formation for the Slovakia game but he opted for an extra CB in Daniel Mojsov as opposed to having another defensive midfielder in Muhamed Huseini.  Therefore, Macedonia will field a 3-4-2-1 formation in today’s game.

Nikolce Noveski will captain the Macedonian side after both the regular captain and the vice-captain are not with the squad.  The usual captain Goran Pandev is injured while the vice-captain Velice Sumulikoski is out with a red card suspension.  Noveski will be joined in the three man defense by fellow centre backs Vance Sikov and Daniel Mojsov.

Both Vlade Lazarevski and Aleksandar Lazevski will have the freedom to attack down their flanks and contribute to the offense.  Lazarevski provided good crosses in the Armenia game and Lazevski has the ability to be more offensive minded on the left side.  In the midfield, Toshack will feature the defensive minded Muhamed Demiri and the attacking midfielder Mario Gjurovski.

Ivan Trickovski and Vlatko Grozdanoski should play behind the lone striker Samir Fazli.  Fazli gets his first start for Macedonia as he was preferred at CF over Filip Ivanovski.  This game will be extra special for Grozdanoski as this will be his 50th appearance in a Macedonian uniform.

Bench: Tome Pacovski (backup keeper), defenders Robert Petrov and Igor Mitreski, midfielders Muhamed Huseini and Muarem Muarem, and attackers Filip Ivanovski and Aleksandar Trajkovski.

Three of the youngsters from the U21 team, Stole Dimitrievski, Stefan Ristovski, and Stefan Spirovski, did not make the final 18 men list for Toshack.  They will watch the game from the stands.