Beginning on Thursday, Macedonia U19 will host a qualifying tournament featuring England, Italy and Finland.
Over the next six days, Macedonia will host an U19 qualifying tournament. The U19 national teams in Group 4 include Macedonia, England, Italy and Finland. All four squads will be hoping to reach the elite round which requires a top-2 finish.
The group features two powerhouses in England and Italy, so they are the favorites on paper. However, Macedonia will be hoping to take advantage by playing at home. Each Macedonia game will take place at the FFM training center, while the other games not involving Macedonia will be played at “Boris Trajkovski’ stadium.
The six teams will play each other once. Macedonia opens with England on October 8, then meets Italy on October 10 before closing with Finland on October 13. It would have been better to face Finland sooner, but the schedule can’t be redone. Macedonia must avoid losses in at least one of the first two games to give itself a chance of advancing to the elite round.
U19 manager Goran Stanikj called up the following 18 players:
Filip Ilikj – Metalurg 
Bobi Celeski – Grosseto 
Slobodan Bocevski – Rabotnichki
Shaip Tela – Neuchâtel Xamax II 
Sabahudin Alomerovikj – Gorno Lisiche
Stefan Jevtoski – Metalurg
Nehar Sadiki – Gorno Lisiche
Stefan Lazarevikj – Makedonija GjP
Sashe Shoposki – Metalurg
Davor Zdravkovski – Makedonija GjP
Kristijan Karanfilovski – Metalurg
Matej Cvetanovski – Makedonija GjP
Burim Abdulahi – Servette U19
Emil Abaz – Anderlecht U19 
Petar Petkovski – Vardar
Remzifaik Selmani – Renova
Valentin Kochoski – Turnovo
Martin Hristov – Gorno Lisiche
The leader and captain for Macedonia U19 is Petar Petkovski of Vardar. He is the main threat offensively, while the other key guys in attack are Valentin Kochoski and Emil Abaz. The defense, on the other hand, is the weak link. They must improve for Macedonia to have a chance at surprising England or Italy.
All games for Macedonia U19 should be live-streamed on ffm.mk. If you visit that site, there is a youtube link on the right hand side that should show the three games for Macedonia U19.