The Macedonian U15 national team finished last at the 21st Torneo delle Nazioni Città di Gradisca d’Isonzo international tournament with losses in all four matches played.

photo by Torneo delle Nazioni Città di Gradisca d’Isonzo

The tournament was held from April 25th until May 1st in several cities in Italy, Slovenia and Austria. Twelve countries took part in this tournament, divided into four groups. After defeats to South Korea and Slovenia our national team finished last in its group and therefore played in the play-off for 9-12 place. In both matches we suffered identical 1:0 losses against United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The fact that we have not scored a single goal in four matches in this tournament is devastating, and if we add the two friendlies against Croatia played in March, it turns out that this generation of footballers has not scored a goal in 6 consecutive matches, and has conceded 12. Coach Isejni and his staff will have to find a way to improve the performance of this generation in the future because the outlook does not look bright at all.

We must apologize to our readers for the incomplete information regarding the lineups of our national team in all four matches played. This comes from the fact that the Football Federation of Macedonia has not published a single word on its official website about the participation and performance of the U15 national team in this tournament, which is frivolous and unprofessional.

Italia won the tournament by beating Romania in the final.

Placement matches:

April 29th, Miran in Slovenia
Macedonia – United Arab Emirates 0:1
Macedonia: Petrov; Stojchevski, Pavlov, Akiki, Neloski, Sivevski, Polimac, Nikolov, Ristić, P. Stojanov, Ma. Krstevski. Coach: Iljami Isejni
UAE: Al-Breiki; Al-Gheilani, Al-Abdouli, Bani, Afghan, Swed, Derouiche, Z. Al-Hammadi, J. Al-Hammadi, Ezzaldin, Abdullah. Coach: Al-Bannay

May 1st, Renče in Slovenia
Macedonia – Saudi Arabia 0:1 (0:0)
Macedonia: / Coach: Iljami Isejni
Saudi Arabia: / Coach: Sofian Kheyari

video:

Final
Gradisca d’Isonzo
Italy – Romania 1:0

3-4 place
Komen
Slovenia – Czechia 1:1 (3:4 p.s.o.)

5-6 place
Udine
Austria – South Korea 0:0 (3:5 p.s.o.)

5-6 place
Teor
Montenegro – Wales 1:2

9-10 place
San Michele al Tagliamento
Ireland – United Arab Emirates 2:0

11-12 place
Renče
Macedonia – Saudi Arabia 0:1