Macedonia pledge to deal with ‘predictable’ Irish threat

FYR MACEDONIA defender Boban Grncharov has shrugged off Ireland’s attacking threat, claiming his team can deal with ‘aerial players’ and boasted that the current Macedonian team has never been better.

His team-mate Nikolce Noveski, a centre-back, declared that keeping a clean sheet would be Macedonia’s first priority, while coach Mirsad Jonuz has been telling his players how to counter Ireland’s style of play, which hebranded as ‘predictable’ earlier in the week.

The success of two Macedonian players in European competitions last week has boosted the squad, and leaves them believing they can beat Ireland in their Euro 2012 Group B qualifier on Saturday. Inter Milan forward Goran Pandev scored the dramatic latewinner against Bayern Munich that put the European champions into the Champions League quarter-finals, while Dynamo Kiev’s Goran Popov was a constant danger in his team’s win over Manchester City, even drawing the foul that earned Mario Balotelli a red card.

“Our confidence is high because most of the players that play abroad are regular starters,” explained Grncharov, who plays for Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia.

“We have to effectively use that. We have seen the great form of Goran Pandev for Inter against Bayern and Goran Popov for Dinamo Kiev against Manchester City.

“I can’t remember when Macedonian players had such asuccessful week in European football. I doubt that our national team was ever at the current quality level, but we have to put on a performance to match our talent. The Irish style of play suits us. We have tall players in our back-line and we can deal with their aerial threat.”

His fellow defender Noveski, who has been in excellent form forBundesliga surprise outfit Mainz, said: “Playing against these sort of teams is always a challenge. We will do everything in our power to keep a clean sheet and the strikers have a huge desire to score at the other end.”

As it stands, Macedonia are fifth in the six-team group, but their four points leaves them only three points behind Ireland, Armenia and Slovakia.

Coach Jonuz has been pleased with the training-sessions in the picturesque south-western city of Ohrid. “We have used the conditions here well, as they are similar to those in Dublin. We have introduced the Irish style of play to our players and we have worked on how to counter that. We know what to expect, but it will be a tough, physically challenging encounter.”