Macedonians are disappointed with the result of yesterday's match between their country's national team and Ukraine (0:2), which took place in Prague. Many people were sure that this match would be easier than the one against Italy (1:1) and believed that they would win.
The defeat against Ukraine means that the Macedonians can already forget about the first two places in advance, as they have two matches left to play - against Italy and England - in which they definitely cannot count on 6 points. Macedonians believe that they could have played better against Ukraine, and the defeat is the "merit" of the coaching staff, which failed to neutralise the most dangerous players of the opponent. Local fans also believe that luck has turned away from the team, and Ukraine is one of the most uncomfortable opponents for North Macedonia.
Macedonian fans at the match Ukraine vs North MacedoniaMite: Sorry for the team and sorry for the fans. Everything could have turned out much better for us in this qualifying tournament, but we lacked luck and skill. Realisation of chances is the weak point of our national team. But we have what we have. Macedonia has no other players, so we should not hope for a miracle in the short term.
Aliti: Ukraine has a much more serious personnel potential. There are a lot of players there who can come on as substitutes and adequately replace the main squad players. We do not have such an opportunity. There was a feeling that we lacked quite a bit to make Ukraine sprinkle. Alas, there was no one to strengthen the team at that moment.
Xate: If our players had used their chances better, we could have even won today. I do not argue that the Ukrainians also created a lot of chances, but that's why it turned out that the victory was won by the one who was lucky today.
Stojkov: This coaching staff is not able to use the full potential of our players. We failed in defence, thanks to Dimitrijevski, who saved the team. In attack we were in too much of a hurry, that's why we didn't even get a lot of potentially dangerous chances. A coach should be able to "squeeze" the best out of the players. Alas, this was not our case.
Damjanovski: I am not ashamed of the team. The result 0:2 does not reflect what was happening on the pitch. In my opinion, the teams had an equal number of dangerous chances. The goalkeepers played very well, but Macedonia's attacking players are of a lower class, which ultimately affected the result.
Tajkov: The draw with Italy was encouraging for many. Me, too. But now I realise that the Italians have fallen closer to our level than Macedonia has risen closer to the level of top teams. The Italians are the reigning European champions, but they are not the same team that played in London 4 years ago.
Goran: If I understand correctly, Macedonia still has a purely mathematical chance. We can score 13 points. If Ukraine does not win against Malta and Italy, it will have maximum 12. Italy needs to score no more than 5 points in three matches. For example, a win against Malta, defeat against Macedonia and England, and then a draw with Ukraine - it will be 11 points. But the most difficult thing is that our team needs to win against Italy and England, I don`t really believe it.
Slobodan: We have no luck with Ukraine. We seem to play well, creating chances, attacking, playing beautiful football. But there is no result. We can draw with Italy and play on equal terms, but with Ukraine something does not work out all the time. It happens that in matches with a certain team you are always unlucky.
Danevski: To qualify for the second place, you cannot lose to your direct competitors. Macedonia lost twice to Ukraine. And it doesn't matter whether it was fair or not. We lost to a competitor, giving him 6 points. That is why we will definitely not go to Euro-2024.
Angel: Shattered dreams, shattered hopes. At some point it seemed to everyone that Macedonia could fight for the second place in this group. Unfortunately, it was only our dream. In one match our national team can surprise and play on equal terms with a strong opponent. But on a long distance it is no longer possible.
Nuramet: Look at Ukraine. Their stars are fading and are not playing the same football as before. Yarmolenko, Malinovskyi, Yaremchuk, Stepanenko, Karavaev - this generation is actually retired. But there is someone to replace them. Mudryk, Sudakov, Trubin, Zabarny, Zinchenko - a lot of great players. We have a big problem with this. There are 1-2 excellent players in almost every generation, but very often they do not realise their potential, do not get to the top clubs, and then degrade.
Garo: I was not surprised that Ukraine won today. I was surprised that Ukraine played so weakly against Italy. In my opinion, the composition of the Ukrainian national team is now inferior to the Italian team. Italy has degraded, there are almost no stars there, there are few technical players. Ukraine has a strong generation of young players who play for top clubs.
Mirce: Ukraine won and temporarily moved up to the second place, but I am sure that they will still not be able to overtake Italy and qualify directly for Euro 2024. Yes, they were stronger than Macedonia, but the Ukrainians are a long way from the top teams. Even today we could have hoped for a different result.
Kosogovor: Sudakov is a very interesting footballer. It is strange that he plays at Shakhtar and not in the APL or in Spain. Mudryk and Trubin also played well today. This is what I was talking about even before the match. We should not say in advance that Macedonia must win against Ukraine. They are a much stronger team, so it is strange that many people underestimated them.
Apostolovski: Macedonia had the strongest group in this qualifying tournament. This is unfair. England and Italy are the finalists for Euro 2020. The reigning champion and vice-champion of Europe. There simply cannot be stronger opponents. And then there is Ukraine, which is clearly not a team from the third seeding basket. To fight with such teams for a direct entry is an unrealistic task. So thanks to the team for this qualifying tournament.
Selic: Trubin and Dimitrievski organised a competition for the title of the best goalkeeper of the game day. So many impressive saves I haven't seen in a long time. If not for the goalkeepers, we would have seen a lot of goals in this match.
Jance: Ukraine liked Sudakov, Trubin and Mudryk. Cool players with great potential. Dimitrievski was the best for us, I won't praise the others, as we lost and actually said goodbye to Euro-2024.
Pero: This morning I made a prediction that the match with Ukraine will end with the score 2-0. It turned out to be correct. The only thing is that I didn't guess who will win. I still bet on Macedonia.
Brblic: Look at the composition of the Ukrainian national team and calm down. Trubin from Benfica, Zinchenko from Arsenal, Mudryk from Chelsea, Dovbik from Girona - one of the leaders of the Spanish championship. And there are also Zabarny and Mikolenko from APL, there are Yaremchuk and Tsygankov from Spain, there is Malinovsky from Italy. Maybe there is someone else, you can not remember all of them. All of them play in the top championships, and what can Macedonia boast? Unless Elmas and Dimitrievski.
Zoran: Ukraine is potentially one of the strongest teams in Europe, I think they are in the top 7 or top 10 in Europe. They have a lot of players who are capable of playing at the highest level right now. They have a good coach now, who has found the right words for the team. Ukraine is progressing, while we are standing on the same place. We should not berate Macedonia for this defeat. Our players played honourably, created many chances, but ... To beat such a strong opponent, you need each player to play his best match. Today this was not the case, so the result did not surprise me.
Anton Prokopov
