The Macedonian A national team kicked off its November international campaign with an official call-up at the Hilton Hotel in Skopje. The gathering comes ahead of the last two matches of the year, a friendly match against Latvia on November 13 in Skopje and the final qualifying match against Wales on November 18 in Cardiff.
Nikola Serafimov, our defender, stressed that the most important thing for the team is to maintain the winning spirit. He indicated that the match with Latvia will be an important test, but the main focus remains on the match with Wales, which is expected to be one of the toughest matches in these qualifiers.
"First of all, I hope that after the match with Latvia all the players will be healthy, because what is most important for us at the moment is, of course, the match with Wales. I do not expect that the coaching staff will "open the cards" in that match, nor that any tactical variants will be prepared for the match with Wales, precisely for that reason, because that match is more important. However, I think that with a win against Latvia we would enter the duel with Wales in a good, winning atmosphere, which is important at this moment."
The match with Latvia will be a great test for us. Then comes the most important match in these qualifiers against the Welsh national team. It will be a very difficult match, similar to the one we played here, in Skopje. We will do our best to make Macedonia happy and to achieve a positive result. When you play against world-class national teams, the biggest burden during the match always falls on the defense. But I have said many times that our defense starts with our most outstanding player. That will be the case this time too and I hope that we will manage to withstand their pressure.
"I think that through these qualifiers we have shown that our approach, regardless of the opponent, is always at a high level. In every match we go for a positive result and that will be the case against Wales. We brought ourselves into this situation, thanks to our games and results. I think that the public's expectations have grown and that is good. But, on the other hand, we have to confirm all of that on the field, in every next match. There is always pressure when we play for Macedonia, but we have shown that we know how to deal with it."
