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.