Boban Babunski confirmed today that he gave John Toshack a list of 30 players and Toshack chose 22 of those players for the EURO 2012 qualifiers against Russia and Andorra.
One of the assistants on the Macedonian national team, Boban Babunski, confirmed today in an interview with Macedonian newspaper Vest that he gave new manager John Toshack a list of 30 players that he felt were national team quality. From those 30 players, Toshack chose 22 of them which means two players at every position. Toshack is not very familiar with the Macedonian players so he put his trust in Babunski to help him with the player selections. Was every player deserving to get a spot on the national team? Below, we take a look at the current situation involving the 22 players.
Goalkeepers:
Martin Bogatinov: Began the season as the Karpaty starting keeper. After a slow start, he was relegated to the bench and Andriy Tlumak started the next couple of games. However, Bogatinov reclaimed the starting job with Karpaty in the last game and is expected to continue starting for the Ukrainian club moving forward.
Tome Pacovski: Tome finds himself in a difficult situation. He is currently the #3 keeper at Germinal Beerschot behind starter Stijn Stijnen and backup keeper Kristof Maes. Pacovski did keep a clean sheet in the friendly against Azerbaijan and will probably start the qualifiers despite being the third keeper for his club team.
Defenders:
Nikolce Noveski - Noveski is the captain of Mainz and plays regularly for the German Bundesliga club. He usually starts at left CB and Mainz has opened the German season with six points after three rounds in the top division.
Vance Sikov - Vance has played the maximum 630 minutes for Volyn after seven rounds in the Ukrainian top division. Vance has also scored two goals from the CB position and has been named in the team of the round two times.
Daniel Mojsov - A key member for Vojvodina as Mojsov is considered one of their best players. Mojsov was voted as the best defender in the Serbian top division last season. He has started both league games this season as Vojvodina has four points after two rounds.
Igor Mitreski - Igor was a surprising name on the list. Simply, he has been out with an injury for about a month and is not in the best form at the moment. He suffered an injury during the first leg of his team's second round of Champions League qualifying matchup against Dinamo Zagreb. He was an unused substitute for this past Sunday's game and is slowly coming back to form.
Goran Popov - Regular starter for Dynamo Kyiv at LB and has been a solid performer for the Macedonian national team.
Robert Petrov - This was a baffling move. Sure, Petrov can play LB or even RB but he is 33 years old and has no future with the national team. He is expected to backup Popov but someone younger would have been a better solution.
Vlade Lazarevski - Vlade has only played in one game for Amiens this season. That was in a Coupe de la Ligue match when the French club was facing injuries and suspensions. Since that game, he has not been called up again and who knows in what form Vlade is at the current moment. Even before signing with Amiens, Vlade was without a team for months after he left Tobol from Kazakhstan. He reported them to FIFA for not paying his salary so he has not played much over the past year but was still included on the national team.
Daniel Georgievski - This will be Daniel's debut with the senior national team. He is 23 years old and Babunski knows him well from their days with the Macedonian U21 national team. Daniel was born in Australia and likes to go forward from the RB position and is very fast but he does need to improve defensively. It also helps that he speaks English and can help the new manager John Toshack with any language problems.
Midfield:
Velice Sumulikoski - Sumulikoski is the captain for Sibir in the Russian second division. He plays regularly for them in defensive midfield but Sumulikoski is not very popular with the Macedonian fans.
Muhamed Demiri - Demiri has been a regualr for Thun during Europa league qualifications while he has both started and made substitute appearances during league play. He had an assist in the last game for Thun in the 2:0 win away to Young Boys. Demiri also plays in defensive midfield and has also become a starter for the Macedonian national team.
Darko Tasevski - Darko has been in bad form over the past couple of months and has lost his starting place with Levski. He was not even included in the Levski squad for the last game. Darko has over 30 appearances for the Macedonian national team but he has failed to impress on countless occasions and is still looking for his first goal. However, he continues to be given chance after chance despite this fact.
Vlatko Grozdanoski - Vlatko is currently not playing as he has to sit out for two months before he is allowed to play for Vardar. Since Vlatko signed with Rabotnicki earlier this summer but then moved to Vardar, FIFA rules note that players in this scenario must sit out for two months. Even though he is not playing, he was once again included in the squad after also playing during the Azerbaijan friendly earlier in the month.
Muarem Muarem - Muarem is another player that benefited by the presence of Babunski. He formerly played for Babunski on the Macedonian U21 national team. Muarem struggled in the Turkish second division last season and just signed with Rabotnicki so many members on our forum don't feel Muarem is national team quality.
Muhamed Huseini - Huseini is a defensive midfielder who plays his club football for Shkendija. We watched him during the two games against Partizan in Champions League qualifying and Huseini is a feisty player who frustrated Partizan players with his late fouls. Huseini was given a red card in the second leg of the matchup. Shkendija fans rate him highly but he is another player that might not be national team quality.
Attackers:
Goran Pandev - Goran is the captain of the national team but he has been a bad form with Inter over the past year. He is not liked by the Inter fans who want the club to sell Pandev this summer. Despite his form with Inter, Pandev is an important player on the national team and Toshack will be counting on him to score more goals for Macedonia.
Ivan Trickovski - Along with Goran Popov, Trickovski has probably been the best player on the national team ever since he made his debut last summer. Trickovski plays on the left wing and is an important player for both APOEL and Macedonia. The APOEL fans think very highly of Trickovski and hope he remains with them despite transfer speculations linking Tricko to other clubs.
Ferhan Hasani - Voted as the best player in the Macedonian top division for last season. During the past game against Napredok which Shkendija won 3:0, Hasani played a part in all three goals by scoring one and assisting on the other two goals. Hasani has looked average in his first three appearances for the Macedonian national team up to this point but he is considered an important player for the future.
Agim Ibraimi - Agim has been in great form for Maribor this season. He scored two goals and provided two assists in the last game for Maribor. Ibraimi also scored a goal against Scottish giants Rangers during Europa League qualifications.
Mirko Ivanovski - Began the season on the bench for Arka of the Polish second division. After a slow start, the Arka manager decided to start Ivanovski in the past two games and Mirko did score in the last match. Mirko formerly played for Babunski on the Macedonian U21 national team and Babunski probably spoke highly of Mirko to Toshack.
Samir Fazli - Samir did fine in the Azerbaijan friendly but he does not play for his club team Heerenveen. He has not even made the bench for the Dutch club early in the season. However, Babunski likes his talent and just like Ivanovski, Fazli was helped by the fact that Babunski played a big part in the player selections for these two upcoming qualifiers.
