Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Scotland and Wales are Macedonia’s opponents in the qualifications for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Macedonia did not had luck in today’s draw in Rio de Janeiro. Ex-Yugoslav fellows and always strong sides Croatia and Serbia are two of the five opponents. Than we have Belgium, a team that hasn’t been performing well in the past years but now is slowly coming back to it’s old strength. The two British countries, Scotland and Wales, are the last two opponents to make the group the hardest of all. Group A is definitely the qualification’s group of death!
Group A
Croatia
Serbia
Belgium
Scotland
Macedonia
Wales
The qualifications will begin in September 2012.
Croatia is not an attractive opponent from pot 1 but they have a solid team that has achieved good results. Most Macedonian fans and also the Football Federation of Macedonia wanted an attractive opponent like Germany or Italy, two teams that Macedonia has never played, but we were once again drawn with Croatia. We recently played in the same group with Croatia during EURO 2008 qualifying. Macedonia won the home game 2:0 in some terrible playing conditions without star player Goran Pandev while we lost 2:1 in Croatia after Brazilian born Eduardo scored a late game winning goal in the 88th minute.
From pot 2, we were drawn with Serbia. Our neighboring country has many players who play their club football for top European clubs but they are an underachieving team. Their biggest problem is in attack where they lack a true difference maker. There have also been issues with the coach Vladimir Petrović who is not very popular with the Serbian fans, especially with some of his player selections.
Belgium is an up and coming team with a lot of young talent. You can make a case that they are the most talented team in this group and will be a formidable opponent for the rest of the national teams in Group A. Now, whether they will be consistent enough remains a question. The league in Belgium continues to improve every year and they have many young players at top European leagues.
In pot 4, Macedonia was once again grouped with Scotland. Keep in mind we were also grouped with Scotland during 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifications. Macedonia won 1:0 at home while Scotland celebrated a 2:0 victory at their place. Macedonia drawing Scotland means the return of the Tartan Army who always create a great atmosphere and showed strong support the last time Scotland played in Macedonia. This time, the Filip II Arena is completely renovated so they will enjoy their visit more.
Finally, Macedonia received the toughest team in pot 6 in Wales. They are led by Tottenham star Gareth Bale who is one of the best young players in the world. They have struggled recently as indicated by being in pot 6 but they can cause problems to what should be an interesting group.
Group A doesn’t truly have a dominant team but it should be a close group as any team can beat each other, especially at home. The most consistent team throughout the qualifications will come out on top of this group.
To view all the groups from all the zones, just click here.