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Goran Pandev will be his country’s captain at the late Euros, having qualified for their first major tournament 27 years after independence
For veteran Champions League and Serie A followers, the name Goran Pandev will be familiar.
The 37-year-old enjoyed a successful career at the top of Italian football. The peak came in 2009-10, when it was a valuable player on the Inter team who won a hat-trick under Jose Mourinho, whom the striker later described as “like a father” to him.
Scorer of 95 goals in 447 Serie A games with Lazio, Inter, Napoli and now Genoa, Pandev will watch a century of goals in the Italian top flight before the end of the 2020-21 season – which, with his contract expiring, could also be his latest campaign at the highest level of European club football.
He will not do so when his contract with Genoa expires, however, because next summer – coronavirus permitting – Pandev will celebrate the culmination of his entire career.
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Pandev will be the captain of the North Macedonia team that will play in the delayed European Championship, with the country qualifying for their first major tournament, 27 years after gaining independence from Yugoslavia.
They reached the finals through the play-offs, coming out victorious from the four nations in Path D – none of which had previously qualified for a major competition.
After defeating Kosovo 2-1 in Skopje in October – play-offs narrowed to single matches due to the pandemic – North Macedonia overtook Georgia in Tbilisi Thursday night, Pandev’s 56th minute, following a brilliant team move, proving enough to make history.
“I am excited and very happy. We played a great match. We remained united and united,” Pandev proudly told the UEFA official website immediately after the match. “We won for our people and for all of you. The dream has come true!
“We have a young group but the guys are strong and have a good future ahead of them. Before the game, I talked to the team and told them to stay calm. In the end, we won, and I’m just so excited.”
The bizarre Euro 2020 playoff system has always given an unlikely nation a golden ticket, as the retrial ensured that every division in the 2018-19 UEFA Nations League was represented.
The winners of the four groups of League D – Georgia, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Belarus – were put together in brackets and, despite having played only among the lowest teams in Europe, suddenly found themselves two games from one of the most major international football teams of the world. tournaments.
North Macedonia – whose 2018 Nations League campaign saw them lose 4-0 in Armenia but lead the group thanks to home and away wins against Gibraltar and Liechtenstein – will therefore compete in the delayed Euro 2020, when the 2016 quarter-finals Iceland, previous World Cup finalists Bosnia and Herzegovina and Erling Haaland’s Norway must stay at home.
However, North Macedonia cannot be blamed for UEFA’s logic. They have made their way through history and will now face the Netherlands, Ukraine and Austria in Group C at Euro 2020.
While plans to host the tournament in 12 nations are under threat due to Covid-19, North Macedonia is currently scheduled to play the games in the Netherlands and Romania.
Their first ever match in a tournament will be against Austria in Bucharest on 13 June, before facing Ukraine at the same venue four days later.
Their last group match is at the Johan Cruyff Arena against the Dutch on 21 June – a difficult conclusion, but as the top four third-placed teams reach the knockout stages, and Group C is far from the most tournament tough, North Macedonia should have high hopes of emulating Iceland, Hungary and Northern Ireland from 2016 by earning a surprise spot in the last 16 places.
This will require more from the team than relying on the talismanic Pandev – and several players have experience participating in a major international tournament, having played for Macedonia at the 2017 U21 European Championship.
The three defenders against Georgia – Dejan Velkovski, Visar Musliu and Egzon Bejtullai – all played in the 2017 tournament in Poland, conceding 11 goals in three games when they finished the last of their group. They hope that experience will lead to better results.
The most captivating player in the squad is Elif Elmas, the 21-year-old attacking midfielder who lined up behind Pandev in Tbilisi and plays football for Napoli.
Elmas has only completed 90 minutes four times for Napoli since a € 16 million (£ 14m / $ 18m) transfer from Fenerbahce in summer 2019 and is most regularly used as an impact sub.
However, since making his senior international debut at 17, he has been a key figure for his country, as demonstrated by his skill and determination that helped create Pandev’s winner on Thursday. His creativity will be an invaluable asset at Euro 2020 for a team that will likely have to defend a lot.
Absent from the Georgia game due to injury was Enis Bardhi, an attacking midfielder from Levante. The 25-year-old has established himself as a set piece specialist in La Liga: two seasons ago only Lionel Messi scored more free kicks than he in the Spanish top flight.
A household name for English football fans is Ezgjan Alioski, the Leeds United utility man who played left wing Thursday but is often deployed in a more offensive role.
There is no doubt, however, that Pandev is the main light and will provide the inspiration for North Macedonia at Euro 2020.
His run with the national team has not always been smooth: he left after failing to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, before returning for the 2018 season under current manager Igor Angelovski.
However, Pandev is now ready for an appropriate grand finale.
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