North Macedonia coach Blagoja Milevski admits they are ‘not at the level of Italy yet,’ but still have reason to believe they can win this World Cup play-off.
It kicks off at the Stadio Barbera in Palermo on Thursday at 19.45 GMT.
The winners will go on to face either Portugal or Turkey on Tuesday March 29 for a spot at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
These nations have only crossed paths once before, in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, when Italy won 3-2 in Skopje in October 2016 and were held to a 1-1 home draw in October 2017.
“Every game is unique and has different players, so anything can happen. I don’t have any specific pattern I want to follow,” said Milevski in his press conference.
He took the job in August 2021, after they lost all three games at EURO 2020, and so far has overseen three wins, three draws and only one defeat, 4-0 at home to Germany in October 2021.
Eljif Elmas is suspended, but the Napoli midfielder has reportedly been giving Milevski and his teammates advice on how to prepare for the Azzurri.
“We are ready, we are not here as a fluke and we expect to put in a great performance. We’re not at the level of Italy yet, but we’ll still do everything we can tomorrow to get the better of them.
“I will tell my players to go out there and enjoy themselves.”
Aleksandar Trajkovski will probably enjoy this trip more than most, as he played for Palermo from 2015 to 2019.
“He will feel very much at home here. I didn’t call up Ilija Nestorovski from Udinese because he is not in the best physical shape.”
LIVE TMW – Nord Macedonia, il ct Milevski: “Non siamo al livello dell’Italia ma ce la metteremo tutta” https://t.co/ZdvxbirvR1
— TUTTOmercatoWEB (@TuttoMercatoWeb) March 23, 2022
FI,
Can you allow comments on that editorial about ‘three tactical keys for Italy to beat North Macedonia” ?
Who else besides the author of that Editorial believes sitting Barella in place of Pellegrini is a wise move?
I swear I’m not having a Go.
We had a funk after we lifted the Cup but I believe that having 5 Months off can allow us to hit the Reset Button.
I hope Italy win