After two defeats in group C, North Macedonia already has no chance of reaching the next round and therefore only plays for the honor against the Dutch national team. Denis Mahmudov expects another loss against the Dutch, but is nevertheless proud of his compatriots. “They have made it a wonderful week and I’m going to sit down for it one last time. This European Championship will do the people in Skopje a lot of good.”
By Thijs Verhaar
“Yugoslavia, Balkans, Eastern Bloc. Look what you call it, dude. We have so many names,” chuckles the 31-year-old attacker, who served eight different Dutch clubs and celebrated his greatest successes at Sparta Rotterdam and FC Dordrecht. He was born in 1989 in Veles, which at the time was still part of the former Yugoslavia and has been on North Macedonian territory since the split. He lived there for the first thirteen years of his life and shortly after the turn of the century traveled with his family to follow his father, who had been earning a living in Apeldoorn for several years. “Poverty reigned and still prevails in Veles, but I still enjoy coming back every year. It remains a part of your life and my family lives there for the most part.”
Mahmudov would have loved to be in North Macedonia to experience the festival up close, but due to travel restrictions, he has to make do with photos and videos sent to him by his uncles and cousins. “The football team is the biggest pride and it never happened before that they were there at a European Championship, so the whole country went wild. Those images of qualifying were already great and now the whole street goes wild when they score”, the attacker chuckles. “My family has been talking about almost nothing else for months. A European Championship or World Cup is simply the most beautiful thing there is. I also enjoy the Dutch flags and actually all countries. That pride is nice to see.”
Who else but Goran Pandev took the very first North Macedonian goal on a final round. Alievski now also has a goal to his name.
He himself is most impressed by veteran Goran Pandev. The 37-year-old record international and North Macedonian all-time top goalscorer was actually planning to retire, but decided to give it his all one last time to qualify for a final tournament. Although that did not work through the regular route, due to the good results in Group D of the Nations League, there was an escape route that still went to the dream via play-offs against Kosovo (2-1 win) and Georgia (0-1 win). result led. “And then Pandev scores in his first game. Then you are a great man. With his honors list he could never go out on the street in his own country, but certainly not anymore. What a legend.”
North Macedonia went on to lose the opening game 3-1 to Austria and then 2-1 to Ukraine, with the crafty Pandev earning another penalty by putting his leg in front of an up-and-coming defender. “With all his experience, he is still hugely important,” said Mahmudov, who had hoped beforehand that his compatriots might be able to take a point in one of the first two games. “Certainly against Ukraine, that might have been possible, but North Macedonia is just not a great team. You have to be that realistic. They will not be able to make it difficult for the Dutch,” he expects. “Look, all the Balkan countries have technical players who are looking for the football solution, but tactically it is all just a little less.”
The Dutch national team is already certain of a group win and North Macedonia remains last, so national coach Frank de Boer can choose to give some players a rest in the duel for the emperor’s beard.
North Macedonia was therefore classified in advance as the weakest brother in the group and even of the entire European Championship, but individually there are some players who would also force playing time with other countries. Goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski makes a good impression in this tournament, Arijan Ademi of Dinamo Zagreb would also be able to play in the selection of other small countries and have played with Eljif Elmas (Napoli), Ezgjan Aliovski (Leeds United) and Enis Bardhi (Levante). the North Macedonians have three more strongholds besides Pandev. “Bardhi in particular has been doing well in recent years. He has a very nice kicking technique and is currently even slightly further than Elmas, who as the biggest talent is still very young and feels a lot of pressure on his shoulders,” said Mahmudov.
He experienced to a lesser extent that the pressure of the nation can be paralyzing when he made his debut at the now defunct AGOVV Apeldoorn as a seventeen-year-old. “Dries Mertens and I both scored then and since then the eyes of North Macedonia have been on me again. When I was about 11 years old, I was allowed to participate with the Under-13 of my country and after that I was out of the picture, but because of that goal it came back for a while.” It would never lead to a debut for the national team, but in the service of PEC Zwolle he came very close. “Then I was called to play two international matches, but at that exact moment I got injured. That had been a dream, but unfortunately it was not to be.”
‘I am sure that I can score ten, fifteen times in the Netherlands’
Voetbalzone spoke extensively with Denis Mahmudov in May. After two rather bizarre foreign adventures, he is looking for a Dutch club to end his career well.
After his departure from Zwolle, Mahmudov, currently looking for a new club, started a football journey that took him to another nine clubs and five countries, while the North Macedonian team gradually gained strength. “The current national coach (Igor Angelovski, ed.) has really managed to make a team out of it,” praises the attacker. “They work hard for each other. He is of course lucky that there are now some guys who play at a higher level, but also has to make do with guys who are active in the Albanian or Swiss league. Then it’s great that you can win a European Championship with that and beat Germany,” he refers to the World Cup qualifier win in March. Die Mannschaft was defeated by 1-2. “That was also a really good game, so who knows, they can bring something extra against bigger opponents.”
Would there still be a point if the North Macedonians once again give their all and the Netherlands perhaps does not use its strongest formation? “I don’t expect that. It really should have happened against Austria or Ukraine. They have shown their best side based on sheer willpower and made the country proud, but the Netherlands is Nederland next level dude. They are too good,” said Mahmudov, who will cheer for the the Dutch after the last group match. “I now live longer in Apeldoorn and Rotterdam than in Veles, so I also feel partly Dutch. So I still have one trump in the tournament”, the attacker laughs. “But first, let’s sympathize with North Macedonia once more. They made it a great week and I’m going to sit down for it one last time. This European Championship will do the people in Skopje good, even if it really is three defeats.”
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