Previewing the (so called) Euro 2020 underdogs: North Macedonia

North Macedonia enter this year’s European Championships as massive underdogs and it must be said that they are likely to make a good impression this summer.

Those who questioned the merit behind a side in League D of the 2018/19 Nations League had reason to do so.

Still scarred from a Euro 2016 where the poor quality of many sides encouraged cagey football, the decision to give a play-off spot to four sides finishing in League D suggested that UEFA’s tournament expansion to 24 teams was doomed to increase the number of these sides.

Even though their path to the Euros was kind, North Macedonia are more than worthy contenders at this year’s Euros, buoyed by a kind group with an out of sorts Netherlands, a Ukraine in poor goalscoring form and an Austria side notorious for their bottling. Two of their games are in Bucharest too- just a short trip through Bulgaria for many fans.

After winning five games out of six to top their Nations League group, they fell into the trap of many sides in their boat in somewhat taking their foot off the gas in the standard qualifying campaign.

There were respectable wins, beating an in-form Slovenia 2-1 at home, but they could have and should have done more in the kindest qualifying group of the lot.

However, they were able to quickly put that disappointment behind them. Igor Angelovski has been at the helm since 2015, and was influential within the FA for overseeing their successful Under-21 Euro campaign in 2017.

From that squad comes the core of this side. Enis Bardhi, despite already having been a regular with the seniors, came back into the side and is unquestionably their star man with brilliant line-breaking passes and the occasional left-footed longshot ripping into the top corner.

Another fun left-footed central midfielder is Elif Elmas. Criminally underused by Napoli, with a similar technical profile for Bardhi but with a touch more elegance and dynamism.

It is indeed the midfield where their strengths lie, and in an open group against sides prone to panicking in games, grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck through a confident, technical midfield will be essential.

Elmas and Bardhi are anchored by the experience of Stefan Spirovski or Arijan Ademi in midfield, and too with the experience of record-capper and record-scorer Goran Pandev up front.

Pandev, due to retire in the summer of 2020, delayed his retirement in the hope of qualifying for the Euros with North Macedonia through the October play-off semi-final against Kosovo and consequently the final in Tbilisi against Georgia as he netted the winner

It’s tempting to think that the romance narrative could continue. They obviously made waves recently by beating Germany in Duisburg in a World Cup qualifier (although how the Germans won’t end up with 10 wins from 10 in that group is a shocking indictment of their state).

Germany missed many guilt-edged chances, but North Macedonia managed the game expertly, launching their waves of attacks at the perfect moments with two beautifully crafted goals.

Their defence is a concern, as is their goalkeeping situation and expect Stole Dimitrievski to be the Igor Akinfeev in the 2017 Confederations Cup figure, but they function well in the 3-5-2 system.

Most of all Stefan Ristovski, who is a very underrated right wing-back, has been establishing himself in a trendy Dinamo Zagreb side after a few years in the wilderness with Parma and Sporting CP.

Preparations have not been perfect. Key attacker Ilija Nestorovski is injured, and they had an embarrassing debacle with their new kit release, eventually telling manufacturers Jako that they wouldn’t use the new kit due to its omission of yellow.

Group C is the most open one in the tournament, with the two sides on paper who have the best chance of advancing having notorious ‘bottle job’ reputations. North Macedonia should be more than capable of finishing second or even first if they are able to capitalise on the mistakes of the Dutch and the Austrians.

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