Macedonia continued the qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup with an expected win over group outsiders Liechtenstein today in Skopje.
photo by FFM: Elmas scores the opener
After trying some new things in Thursday’s friendly against Saudi Arabia, coach Blagoja Milevski fielded his best available players for the must win qualifier. Stole Dimitrievski between the posts, in the defense Gjoko Zajkov and Andrej Stojchevski with Ezgjan Alioski and Bojan Ilievski on the sides, in the midfield Elif Elmas, captain Enis Bardhi, Isnik Alimi and Darko Churlinov, while Aleksandar Trajkovski and Bojan Miovski up front. Visar Musliu missed the match due to a yellow card suspencion.
The first half was rather boring as Liechtenstein opted for a very defensive approach killing the game flow. Macedonia could not break the visiting bunker and created very few chances.
In the 15th minute Elmas from the left side dribbled past several opposing players and finished beating the keeper to break the dead lock. Unfortunately, UEFA credited the goal as own goal of the keeper Benjamin Büchel, but FFM will appeal this decesion.
Despite the early lead, Macedonia could not score again in the opening half. Ilievski got booked, meaning he will miss the next match due to yellow cards.
The second half started with a good shot by Bardhi, but went inches above the crossbar. Bardhi eventually scored in the 52nd minute when Ilevski from the right perfectly served him in the box.
Just four minutes later Bardhi passed the ball right to Churlinov, who scored hitting the far side.
In the 71st minute Milevski gave a chance to midfielder Reshat Ramadani, who made his debut appearance and became the 300th player to appear for the Macedonian national team.
The fourth goal came in the 82nd minute when Alioski with a cross found Qamili in the box, and the later scored a Pančev like goal. In the last minute Zajkov headed the ball at the far post after a corner kick and Stankovski scored his debut goal.
Highlights:
The next matches for Macedonia are in October when first on the 10th will travel to Belgium, while later on the 13th will host Kazakhstan.