It remains to be seen whether North Macedonia can have Goran Pandev at its disposal on Monday evening during the last group match against the Netherlands. According to Macedonian media, the 37-year-old striker is struggling with a wrist injury and was forced to miss Saturday’s training. Pandev has not missed a minute of this European Championship so far and played the entire game against Austria (3-1) and Ukraine (2-1).
Pandev, together with Ezgjan Alioski, is the big eye-catcher on the North Macedonia side. The Genoa striker took the equalizer during the opening match against Austria, but could not prevent his team from going down. His goal made him the second oldest player ever to score a goal at a European Championship. Only Austrian Ivica Vastic was just under a year older when he scored in the opening game against Poland during the 2008 European Championship.
In North Macedonia, they are aware that only excellent form can lead to a result against the Netherlands on Monday. “We are ready for this match”, Eljif Elmas looked ahead to the game during the press conference on Saturday. “Whether the Netherlands plays with the A-team or not makes no difference to us. We have to reach our highest level and make Macedonia happy with a win. I can promise that we will do our utmost.” Due to the defeats, North Macedonia is last in Group C with zero points from two games.
The team of national coach Igor Angelovski has now arrived in Amsterdam, where the last group match will be played. For the European Championship debutant, there is little more at stake except for the honour. The game will be led by Istvan Kovacs on Monday. It is the second time that the 36-year-old Romanian the Dutch whistles. In October last year, Kovacs refereed the Nations League meeting between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Netherlands (0-0). It will be his first game at this European Championship.
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