Macedonian journalists write that the defeat in the match against Ukraine was fatal for the local team, as it will not be able to qualify for Euro 2024. The local media praised their team for a good and interesting game, but noted that Ukraine was indeed stronger and had won fairly this time. Macedonia's goalkeeper Dimitrievski was recognised as the best player, as he saved his team many times, even if he made a little mistake in the episode with the second goal. As for the Ukrainian national team, the journalists singled out Mudryk and Sudakov, who played an excellent match and forced the Macedonian defence to work at full strength, as well as Trubin, who saved his team.
Sportmanija
"The defeat by Ukraine deprived Macedonia of its chances to participate in the 2024 European Championships," a journalist from Sportmanija explains the tournament schedule for the local team.
"The Macedonian national team lost to Ukraine 0-2 in Prague in the sixth round of the 2024 European Championship qualifiers. After this defeat, Macedonia has seven points in six matches, while Ukraine now has 10 points in the same number of matches. In our group, Italy will also play Malta at home tonight, and the Azzurri will probably also have 10 points, but with five matches.
The duel in Prague was incredibly exciting and full of chances, and at the end of the match, one moment decided the fate of the match. Sudakov scored from 20 metres exactly 30 minutes into the game, but Macedonia still had hope of at least a draw. Unfortunately, in the last minute of the match, Karavayev scored with a long-range shot, fooling the goalkeeper - 2-0, which not only kept Ukraine in the race to qualify for the 2024 European Championship, but also neutralised Macedonia's chances.
In addition to the two goals, Ukraine had many chances, but thanks to Stole Dimitrievski's incredible saves, the second goal was scored only at the end of the match. In the first half, Dimitrievski saved two 100% chances, and in the second half he made three more super saves.
First, he prevented Mudryk from scoring from close range, then in the 82nd minute he saved Sudakov's long-range shot, and in the 86th minute he stopped Yaremchuk. In the final minutes of the match, Karavayev beat Dimitrievski, who had come into the field, and hit the empty net from long range - 2-0 and a match ball.
Macedonia also had their chances to score, but unfortunately, none of them were converted. Miovski, Ashkovski and Bardi did not score in the first half, and in the second half Churlinov had the best chance, but the Ukrainian goalkeeper showed excellent reflexes and shot."
Sport Media
"Brave Macedonia, but Ukraine is still our nightmare... Euro 2024 is still a dream," the Sport Media journalist praised North Macedonia for its brave play and chances created, and noted that Ukraine can be considered one of the most unpleasant opponents for the Macedonians, as the Ukrainians win even when Macedonia is at its best and plays better against stronger opponents (in this case, Italy).
"A new, fifth defeat from Ukraine, this time with a score of 0-2. This Ukraine is our worst nightmare, we are just unlucky with this opponent. Especially today in Prague, in a match in which we could have scored several goals, but luck was not on our side, hence the hurtful defeat.
The goals came from Sudakov in the 30th minute and Karavaev in extra time. And we had a game, we had chances. But the goalkeeper of the Ukrainian national team - Trubin - sparkled in the goal. Stole Dimitrievski also had his spectacular moments when he saved the team in incredible situations. Macedonia suffered a defeat, and now it seems that our dream of qualifying for EURO 2024 is over.
The best players of the match were the goalkeepers - Trubin and Dimitrievski. It's hard to give any of them preference. If not for them, the result of the match could have been completely different. For example, 2:3 or 3:5. Macedonia and Ukraine had plenty of chances."
Sportski
"Macedonia didn't disappoint, but Ukraine still won," a journalist from the Sportski website writes that the North Macedonian team played a good game and created many chances in attack, but it was not enough to win. He also noted that Ukraine won fairly, creating many more chances at Dimitrievsky's goal. However, the goalkeeper's outstanding performance did not help Macedonia to at least draw.
"From the beginning of the match, Ukraine attacked more and created chances in front of our goal, with Mykhailo Mudryk playing the most actively. In the 15th minute of the game, Mudryk got into a great position one-on-one with Dimitrievski, who successfully intervened and saved the team. Ukraine pressed and created two or three more opportunities, and we conceded the first goal after a defensive error. Manev and Atanasov made mistakes, and then, after Sudakov's shot, the ball hit Serafimov, and then ended up behind Dimitrievsky.
After this goal in the 30th minute, our team seemed to wake up. Miowski missed two good chances, Bardi and Elmas also had their chances... This end of the first half was our best period, but unfortunately we failed to crown it with a goal.
When the first half ended, the second half continued dynamically. Macedonia had the initiative and attacked more, while Ukraine waited for their chance, trying to play on the counterattack, and the Ukrainians should have scored twice if not for Dimitrievski. Trubin also made some outstanding saves to keep Macedonia's representatives from rejoicing on the day. Darko Churlinov missed our team's biggest chance.
Stole Dimitrievski, although he missed twice, also made several super-difficult saves, so we can say that in addition to the incredible Sudakov, who was the leader of Ukraine in this match, we saw an amazing duel between two goalkeepers. Karavayev scored the final 2-0 at the end of the match, scoring from a long range position.
After this defeat, Macedonia has seven points, the same as Italy, but the Italians have two games less. Ukraine is in second place with ten points, and England is the group leader with 13 points. Macedonia will play England at home and Italy away before the end of the qualifiers."
Anton Prokopov
