Manager John Toshack revealed the Macedonian starting lineup for the Angola friendly, and the starting 11 features five changes from the Portugal friendly that was played on Saturday.

Goalkeeper Edin Nuredinoski, right-back Daniel Georgievski, midfielder Muhamed Demiri and attackers Agim Ibraimi and Filip Ivanovski are the five changes that Toshack has made for the Angola friendly, to be played later today at 19:00 CET.  Those five players replace Martin Bogatinov, Stefan Ristovski, Nikola Gligorov, Stefan Spirovski and Samir Fazli in the starting lineup.  The other six starters in Vanche Shikov, Boban Grncharov, Nikolche Noveski, Yani Urdinov, Ivan Trichkovski and Goran Pandev remain the same.

Toshack will employ a 5-1-3-1 formation, which is a slightly more offensive minded formation than the Portugal friendly.  There will still be five defenders but just one defensive midfielder in Demiri, not two as in the Portugal friendly, as Ibraimi and Ivanovski will look to add some spark to the attack.

Toshack said the following about the lineup, “I decided for this match to make five changes not because I’m dissatisfied, but because the other players should receive a chance and some minutes.  At the same time, I will also have to think about the games that are awaiting the U21 team in early June.  All of the young players worked very well and are ready for the upcoming challenges.”

The Macedonian manager calls the Angola friendly a good test as today’s opponent is using this game as preparation for its opening game in the 2014 World Cup qualifications, set to be played this Sunday against Uganda.

The referee of the match will be Pedro Proença from Portugal while his two assistants will be Bertino Miranda and Ricardo Santos.  These were the same three referees who officiated the UEFA Champions League final between Chelsea and Bayern München earlier in the month, which the former eventually won in the penalty shootout.