North Macedonia travels to Amsterdam to face the Netherlands for the first time in over twelve years to end their campaign in Group C.
• North Macedonia are one of two teams together with Finland to make their UEFA EURO 2020 finals debut. The Dutch are looking to reach the qualifiers for the first time since 2008.
Previous clashes
• All four meetings between the two combined have come in qualifying for the FIFA World Cup. In the 2006 qualifying round, North Macedonia came back twice to get a 2-2 draw at Skopje City Stadium, now the Todor Proeski National Arena, on October 9, 2004. Then the goals Goran Pandev (45 ‘) and Aco Stojkov (71 ‘) quickly equaled the goals of Wilfred Bouma (43’) and Dirk Kuyt (66 ‘).
• Before that match, on 12 October 2005, there was a goalless draw in the last qualifying match at the Amsterdam ArenA, now Johan Cruijff ArenA. Marco van Basten’s side reached the finals in Germany as the first in Group 1, while North Macedonia finished fifth in a group of seven combined with nine points from their 12 matches.
• Bert van Marwijk was coaching the Netherlands when they faced North Macedonia coached by Srečko Katanec in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Pandev scored again in Skopje on 10 September 2008, although his penalty in the 77th minute It was the consolation goal, as previous goals by John Heitinga (46 ‘) and Rafael van der Vaart (60’) gave the visitors the victory 1-2.
• Van der Vaart scored again in Amsterdam on 1 April 2009, scoring the last goal of the Netherlands 4-0 victory after goals from Kuyt (16 ‘, 41’) and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (25 ‘) in the first part. Once again, the Dutch qualified first in the group, recording the maximum possible points (24) in their eight games. North Macedonia was fourth in that section of five teams, with seven points.
• Pandev has played in the previous four games between the two teams.
EURO data: North Macedonia
• This is the first final round for North Macedonia. Before UEFA EURO 2020 he had never finished beyond fourth place in his qualifying group for a EURO or a FIFA World Cup.
North Macedonia 2-1 Slovenia
• Igor Angelovski’s team was third behind Poland (25 points) and Austria (19) in Group G at UEFA EURO 2020. North Macedonia added 14 points from their ten matches (four wins, two draws and four losses ), tied with Slovenia, but with better numbers in the head-to-head despite having lost two of their last three games, away against Poland (2-0) and Austria (2-1).
• North Macedonia qualified for the EURO play-offs after finishing first in their 2018/19 UEFA Nations League group ahead of Armenia, Gibraltar and Liechtenstein, winning five of their six matches (with a loss) to finish with five points of advantage in front of the classification.
• Angelovski’s team beat Kosovo at home in the semifinals of the tie (2-1). Krste Velkovski’s first international goal decided that duel. Then a goal from captain Goran Pandev gave the Macedonians the victory in the final in Georgia (0-1).
Georgia 0-1 North Macedonia
• After beating Israel 1-0 in their last Group G qualifying match, these play-off results mean that North Macedonia added three consecutive wins in EURO qualification for the first time.
• North Macedonia is the 35th country to qualify for the EURO.
• Those two games against the Netherlands are North Macedonia’s only previous games in Amsterdam, where they have a draw and a loss without a goal.
EURO data: Netherlands
• The Netherlands have participated in nine final stages of the EURO before. He was left out of UEFA EURO 2016. That was the first time he had not participated in a EURO since 1984.
• Champion in 1988, their only major international trophy, the Netherlands came third in the 1976 edition and also reached the semi-finals in 1992, 2000 as co-hosts and 2004. Their last participation in the knockout phase came in 2008, when they lost to Russia in the extension of the quarterfinals.
Golazos of Holland in the EURO
• In their last EURO appearance, in 2012, the team led by Van Marwijk finished last in a group that included Portugal, Germany and Denmark, and did not score a point. Chain four consecutive defeats in the final phase of the tournament.
• The ‘oranje’ finished fourth in their qualifying group for UEFA EURO 2016 behind the Czech Republic, Iceland and Turkey.
• It is the first time that the Netherlands have participated in a European Championship or a World Cup since they came third at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
• However, the Dutch reached the final of the first UEFA Nations League in 2019, beating England 3-1 after extra time in the semi-finals, and losing 1-0 to hosts Portugal in the final.
• Ronald Koeman’s team finished second to Germany in UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying Group C, scoring 19 points from their eight games (six wins, one draw and one loss). Koeman was replaced as coach by Frank de Boer in September 2020.
All the goals of the Netherlands on their way to EURO 2020
• Memphis Depay provided eight assists in qualifying, more than any other player. He also scored six goals, making up 58% of the 24 goals for the Netherlands.
• Georginio Wijnaldum, who had scored ten goals in his first 53 international matches, scored eight in seven qualifying matches, being the Netherlands’ top scorer.
• Before their matchday one against Ukraine, the Netherlands’ record in Amsterdam was 56 wins, 26 draws and 34 losses. At the Johan Cruijff ArenA, their record was 39 wins, 19 draws and 14 draws, although they had only won seven of the last 19 games at this stadium (two draws and ten losses). In qualifying for UEFA EURO 2020, the Netherlands lost 2-3 to Germany in Amsterdam, but beat Estonia 5-0.
Van Basten’s 5 goals at EURO 1988
Curiosities
• Eljif Elmas joined Heerenveen from Rabotnički in 2015, but was immediately loaned out and never made it to play for the Dutch club’s first team.
• Darko Velkovski was for Rijeka who lost 4-1 to AZ Alkmaar in the UEFA Europa League group stage on 29 October 2020. Marco Bizot, Owen Wijndal, Calvin Stengs and Teun Koopmeiners were the club’s stars Dutch, the latter opening the scoring from the penalty spot.
• Elmas was substituted in the second half of Naples’ draw in the UEFA Europa League (1-1) at AZ on 3 December 2020. Bizot, Koopmeiners, Wijndal, Stengs and substitute Myron Boadu played for the team local.
• Also on 3 December 2020, Arijan Ademi played all 90 minutes in Dynamo Zagreb’s 2-0 win against a Feyenoord featuring Steven Berghuis.
