The Macedonian U21 national team recorded the fourth defeat in the 2025 EURO qualifiers, this time by losing home to Sweden who is fighting for a play-off spot.
photo by FFM: Ilievski vs Gigovic
For this match, coach Kanatlarovski could not count on Todorovoski (injury) and Maksimov (accumulation of yellow cards). The starting line up was in 4-2-3-1 formation.
As expected, favorites Sweden had most of the game in the first half. The two quality chances for Sweden came at the end of the half, in 41st minute when Bardghji shot wide from a short distance and in 45th minute when Alchevski managed to save the shot by captain Gigovic from inside the box.
The second half starts with direct red card for Dimitrievski after committing a foul against Swedish midfielder Bergvall. With one player less, Macedonia had the best chance of the match in 53rd minute after counterattack, when Ilievski shot near the post.
Sweden would capitalize on the man advantage in the 67th minute when Rosengren sent a shot from twenty meters, the ball bounced off the defender Despotovski and deceived Alchevski. Kanatlarovski made some offensive changes with Abazi, Jahiji, Krstevski and Semovski but the young Macedonians didn’t improve their game. In the injury time, Swedish side managed to score again after Sonko assist to Vilhelmsson.
Next matches within group C Macedonia will play in September this year against Netherlands (05.09.) an against Gibraltar (09.09.).
March 26th – National Arena Todor Proeski in Skopje
Macedonia – Sweden 0:2 (0:0)
Goals: 67′ Otto Rosengren, 90+3′ Oscar Vilhelmsson
Macedonia: Marko Alchevski, Mihail Dimitrievski, Andrej Stojchevski, Reshat Ramadani (84′ Erkan Semovski), Stefan Despotovski, Ivan Nikolov (77′ Djemilj Jahiji), (C) Mario Ilievski (77′ Luan Abazi), Luka Stankovski (61′ Matej Angelov), Imran Fetai, Aleks Zlatkov, Hamza Ramani (77′ Vane Krstevski). Coach: Dragi Kanatlarovski
Sweden: Oliver Dovin, Josafat Mendes, Noah Eile (60′ Otto Rosengren), Daniel Svensson, Samuel Dahl (60′ Noah Persson), (C) Armin Gigovic, Roony Bardghji (83′ Jusef Erabi), Yasin Ayari (76′ Melker Widell), Oscar Wilhelmsson, Sebastian Nanasi, Lucas Bergvall (60′ Momodou Lamin Sonko). Coach: Daniel Backstrom
Match highlights: