The women’s U19 national team left today for Glasgow, where from 10 to 16 April they will take part in the elite qualifying round for the European Championship.
Alongside hosts Scotland, the group also includes the national teams of Norway and Austria. All three teams are among the strongest on the Old Continent, and the upcoming matches will be a major challenge for this talented generation.
“We have a difficult group, but at this stage of the qualifiers all opponents are strong. I expect the footballers to perform at the highest possible level and to try to compete with the favored opponents in every match. We have no intention of giving up in advance; we enter every match determined to perform at as high a level as possible and to show ourselves in the best possible light,” said Izov.
The clash of the dates with the matches of the A national team, in which many of the footballers from this squad play, certainly also poses a problem when putting together the team.
“In agreement with the officials at the Football Federation of Macedonia and the senior team coach, four, perhaps the best footballers from this squad—Melanija Grozdanovska, Eva Veliчkovska, Teona Golabovska and Mila Paneva—will be part of the A national team, which faces matches against Hungary next week. That will be a major handicap for us, but several younger footballers will get a chance, and they should be part of the national teams in the future,” the national team coach continued.
Taking part in this tournament is a continuation of the excellent run of results achieved by the youth teams, which is the product of the work not only in the national teams but also in the clubs in the country.
“Following the success of the U17 national team, which took part in the elite qualifying round, the U19 team has now also joined the best national teams in Europe. These two generations confirm that we can look forward to better days for the women’s team, and I also hope that the trend of good results will continue in the youth categories. These two teams should serve as the foundation from which players for the senior team will be drawn, and I expect us to form a strong A national team that would be competitive against the best European teams,” Izov concluded.
We face Norway at the start on 10 April, with kick-off scheduled for 13:00. Two days later, at the same time, we play Scotland, while our opponent in the final round on 16 April is Austria.
