Euro 2020: Ambitious debutants North Macedonia want to go all the way

After almost three decades in the doldrums, North Macedonia finally entered the big stage by reaching their first major tournament as an independent nation when they qualified for Euro 2020.

Having gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, the Balkan nation of two million had never come close to appearing at a big tournament before a 1-0 win over Georgia in their playoff final in November last year propelled them into the Euros. 

A remarkable 2-1 victory over Germany in March in World Cup qualifying only added to the sense of euphoria and increased expectations before the debut on the European stage. 

“The team travels as a debutant in the big tournaments and the fans may secretly hope that such a status can be beneficial following the example of Vardar handball team who won the Champions League twice”, says Sasko Dimovski, a sport journalist with Nova TV in North Macedonia. 

Goran Pandev scores for North Macedonia in a famous win over Germany in March 2021.

Backseat to handball

For almost three decades football in North Macedonia took a back seat to handball and even basketball as the national team regularly qualified for major events while Vardar Skopje enjoyed unprecedented success in European club competitions, winning the 2017 and 2019 Champions League titles.

On paper, North Macedonia will start as huge underdogs in Group C. The debut in Bucharest against Austria on June 13 is followed by matches against Ukraine on June 17 and the Netherlands in Amsterdam four days later. 

North Macedonia’s chances of causing an earthquake at the Euros are almost non-existent with bookmakers offering odds of 500/1 for them to win it, but that doesn’t seem to concern their backroom staff. 

Having led his team from the bottom of their qualification group for Euro 2016 to the top of their fourth-tier group in the 2018-19 Nations League, national team coach Igor Angelovski says that qualification is not enough. 

“Our goal is to qualify from the group,” Angelovski told DW during the first day of the team gathering. 

“Then depending on our position there are various possible opponents, but we won’t calculate. We want a place in the last 16. Let the opponents think who is going to play against us.” 

North Macedonia coach Igor Angelovski is held aloft after the team’s qualification for Euro 2020 was confirmed

‘All the way to the final!’

Angelovski’s optimism is shared among members of the coaching and technical team, as DW reporters witnessed while getting exclusive insight into the preparations for the tournament. 

Kit manager Viktor Velevski says he is preparing 250 jerseys for the players that should be enough “all the way to the final”. 

“We’ll get through the group for sure. We’ll see what happens afterwards”, Velevski says. 

If the team is to fulfil Angelovski’s dream of playing in the last 16, much will depend on the form of the veteran leader Goran Pandev who made his international debut in 2001, almost 20 years to the day before North Macedonia will make their maiden major tournament bow. The Genoa striker is the country’s all-time top scorer and holds the record for appearances with 37 goals in 117 games, but he turns 38 in July and will need help from his younger compatriots throughout a busy schedule. 

Much is expected of Napoli’s Eljif Elmas. The 21-year-old midfielder didn’t enjoy the best of seasons for his parent club but already showed his potential by scoring the winning goal for his side against Germany in Duisburg. Leeds United wing-back Ezgjan Alioski and Dinamo Zagreb midfield enforcer Arijan Ademi are the other key pieces in Angelovski’s 3-5-2 system that has brought the team stability and success. 

North Macedonian football fans celebrate the crucial Euro 2020 qualifier win over Georgia in Skopje.

New jerseys, old problems

But off field problems are cause for concern and might disrupt the good atmosphere in the team. A long list of scandals surrounding the Football Federation of North Macedonia (FFM) has recently escalated in an open conflict between its President Muamed Sejdini on one, and Angelovski and Pandev on the other side. 

To make matters worse, only days before the start of the tournament, the long awaited new set of kits for the national team, specially designed for Euro 2020 by German company Jako, were met with anger and disappointment by the fans who protested that the burgundy colors of the new jerseys do not represent their beloved red and yellow national flag. In the end, FFM rejected the new jerseys and asked UEFA to allow the team to use their previous kit. 

Dimovski is certain that these developments won’t affect the team at the Euros: “This team went through a lot of turbulence in the past period — they will not allow anything to disturb their work in the past four years.”

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/euro-2020-ambitious-debutants-north-macedonia-want-to-go-all-the-way/a-57766953?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf