THERE will be more than a football match on the horizon when Giovanni Trapattoni lands with his Ireland team in an airport named after Alexander The Great just outside Skopje tonight.

DAMIEN DUFF is out of Ireland’s European Championship qualifier against Macedonia in June.

Ciaran Clark is determined to seize his big chance to put himself in contention for the Republic of Ireland’s crucial Euro 2012 qualifier in Macedonia.

NO doubt about it, Saturday was a good day at the office.

Skipper Robbie Keane has called for an overhaul of the disciplinary system which will deprive Republic of Ireland of key defender Richard Dunne for their trip to Macedonia in June.

Macedonia coach Mirsad Jonuz insists the past will count for nothing as his side attempt to upset the Republic of Ireland for a third time.

Giovanni Trapattoni has given midfielders Darron Gibson and Aiden McGeady license to shoot on sight as he plots the downfall of Macedonia tomorrow night.

Marco Tardelli is convinced Republic of Ireland stalwarts Robbie Keane and Richard Dunne will be able to lead the fight for precious Euro 2012 qualifying points against Macedonia.

AIDEN McGEADY says that Armenia’s progress in Group B should act as a wake-up call for anyone expecting Ireland to have it all their own way against Macedonia at the Aviva Stadium.

THE focus of attention will be divided between James McCarthy and Richard Dunne this morning as the Irish squad embark on their first training session in Malahide ahead of Saturday’s European Championship qualifier against Macedonia.

AMAZING was how writer-director Juanita Wilson described her recent triumph at the IFTAs, when her film As If I Am Not There won the Best Script, Best Director and Best Film awards.

New Liverpool signing Joe Cole admitted to being nervous ahead of his competitive debut at Anfield, but it did not show as the former Chelsea midfielder was the stand-out player in the 2-0 Europa League victory over Rabotnicki.

Liverpool 2 Rabotnicki 0 (Liverpool win 4-0 on aggregate)

LIVERPOOL manager Roy Hodgson last night refused to comment on reports he has made a bid for Aston Villa’s Luke Young.

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson tonight refused to comment on reports he has made a bid for Aston Villa's Luke Young.

Macedonia 1 Scotland 0

POLICE retrieved the bodies of four men believed to be Macedonians kidnapped in southern Afghanistan but the convoy carrying the remains was later hit by a roadside bomb yesterday, a provincial governor said.

Police retrieved the bodies of four men believed to be Macedonians kidnapped in southern Afghanistan but the convoy carrying the remains was later hit by a roadside bomb today, a provincial governor said.

Explosions caused by a bomb left in a bag near labourers waiting for day's work in Baghdad and a suicide bomber in a restaurant in northern Iraq killed at least eight people today and wounded 19 more.

French journalists held hostage for four months in Iraq said their militant captors told them they wanted President George Bush to win re-election.

A militant group in Iraq has executed two Macedonian men accused of spying for the US, an Arab TV station reported today.

MACEDONIANS voted yesterday for a successor to president Boris Trajkovski, killed in a plane crash in February, with the incumbent prime minister tipped to win despite his poor economic record.

Search parties today found the wreckage of the plane which crashed in Bosnia yesterday killing the Macedonian president and eight others, authorities said.

MACEDONIA'S president, a moderate credited with helping to unite his ethnically-divided country, was killed yesterday when his plane crashed in bad weather in mountainous southern Bosnia.

Macedonia’s president Boris Trajkovski was killed today when his plane crashed in a mountainous part of southern Bosnia en route to an international investment conference.

A plane carrying Macedonia’s president to an international investment conference in Bosnia crashed in a mountainous area today.

A plane carrying Macedonia’s president Boris Trajkovski to an international investment conference in Bosnia disappeared from radar, US officials said.

England have suffered a double setback with Rio Ferdinand and Nicky Butt both forced to withdraw from Wednesday’s Euro qualifier with Liechtenstein at Old Trafford through injury.

Macedonia 1 England 2

Macedonian police will allow England fans who have bought tickets on the black market into the Euro 2004 qualifier in Skopje.

England 2 Macedonia 2

OPPOSITION parties led

Eight Macedonian teenagers who admitted killing British paratrooper Ian Collins have been freed on a technicality.

Heeding Nato and European Union warnings that Macedonia faces the risk of renewed ethnic warfare, leaders of the country’s majority Macedonians and ethnic Albanians pledged to revive stalled reforms under a Western-sponsored peace accord.

Macedonia’s top security body is tentatively endorsing the interior minister’s plan to regain control over ethnic Albanian strongholds, despite warnings from Western officials that the move jeopardises the peace plan in the troubled Balkan country.

Macedonia’s parliament has voted in favour of a peace agreement with the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army, clearing the way for NATO to resume collecting weapons from the rebels.

Macedonian hardliners opposed to equal rights for the country’s ethnic Albanian minority have delayed talks aimed at avoiding civil war in the former Yugoslav republic.

Macedonians have blockaded a main road to Macedonia’s second city today, preventing the army from withdrawing its tanks and heavy weapons.

Rebels in Macedonia say they are beginning to disband ahead of a NATO mission to collect and destroy their weapons.

Ethnic Albanian rebels and Government forces clashed into the early hours today, straining a ceasefire ahead of a visit by Nato’s commander to assess whether it is safe to send thousands of British led troops into Macedonia.

Macedonians disagreed today over the prospects of a peace deal even as the country’s leaders took steps to allow Nato troops to disarm ethnic Albanian rebels.

A fresh outbreak of fighting in northern Macedonia has thrown doubt on whether the country's minority ethnic Albanians and majority Slavs will sign a peace accord as planned tomorrow.

Macedonia’s rival parties pledged to sign a peace deal next week after talks took on a new sense of urgency following the killing of 10 soldiers in the six-month insurgency’s bloodiest battle yet.