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How much will the Macedonians be affected by yesterday's debacle?

Coach Petkovski was unable to count on Borjan Mađovski, a very important player, on account of his suspension, but that's not the main reason they lost against Estonia by -7. Their attack was terrible and they will face even more problems against the strong Swiss defense

The exclusive previews are written by our reporters directly from Austria the venue for this EC!

We have been reporting about Macedonia's thin offense which is hugely reliant on Filip Talevski's outside shot. Not even his immense talent was enough as he relies more on his shot rather than trying to create something to involve his teammates. They held their ground against Norway and France through great fighting spirit in defense as they limited their opponents to low figures and earned massive praise. But at the same time, they were the underdogs, which is much easier than when you have to justify your role as the favorite.

Today's game was another proof of that as Estonia gave them quite a lesson in football. They might not have too many quality players in their ranks, but Estonia play as a team, their flow of the ball is great, with many criss-crosses and exchanges, and they attack the right way to create the extra space for their wings and pivots, and they get the open shots. The Macedonian defense fell apart very naively, as if it were their first time playing together. Had it not been for their keeper Ivanovski (14 saves, 2 penalties), they would have suffered a major defeat, and even though he kept them at -7 (26-19), it's a still a debacle, but also a realistic reflection of what we saw on the pitch.

Talevski had 1/4 in the first 12 minutes, 6/15 until the end, Popovski had 0/4 with three missed sitters, Jovan Talevski lost the balls all the time, Manaskov was non-existent. A defeat was a logical outcome and the fact that their important player for both phases Borjan Mađovski was unable to play due to red card sustained in the previous game. He's coming back today, but the question is what he can do. The Swiss have a better defense than Estonia and they have Maros and Küttel up front, against whom the Macedonian defense will have a hard time defending.

Yesterday, the Swiss continued where they left off in the first round - strong defense, maximum focus, and offense lead by their duo Maros - Küttel.

- We didn't have any problems with the motivation, this is EC and it's not a problem for us to play these games even though we're out - said coach Michael Suter who finally made a move that was expected from him since the tournament had started. 

He played with a marker, pulling the goalie and using and extra man in the attack.

- We've trained that a lot but we haven't use that until now. The coach feels when he should use that, and it proved to be the right decision this time.

Suter accepted the risk this move brings, but the Norwegians missed the entire goal across the court three times in the first period and Switzerland gained confidence after that and played long and precise attacks which left Norway very little chance for new attempts. Maros did exceptionally well using the extra space up front, and had their wing Yves Silvan Mühlebach not missed his fair share of sitters, they would have been up by a fine margin at half time. This way they were down by 11-10 but they soon gained a +4 lead and were the better team. Norway got back in the final stages but Maros scored an amazing goal off the woodwork to tie the score and Norway didn't use their last 8 seconds.

We have been emphasizing the Swiss defense from the start but it needs another mention. They have been on a very high level from the start, and if that stays the same today, and there's no reason for it not to be, they should be able to handle Macedonia.

- We've watched Macedonians a bit, they're not as weak as they showed against Estonia, and I'm sure they'll do better - said Suter. 

The margin is low but there's a very good reason. Switzerland went over against Denmark and Serbia, who score 29 each, while their games against Norway and Estonia stayed ad 46 and 44 goals, respectively. Macedonia have 45 goals against Estonia, 47 against France, 55 against Spain, who scored 33, and 50 against Norway, who scored 27. Macedonia cannot score over 23 goals against anyone, their attack is limited, not to say critical. Switzerland have a much better defense than Estonia, and Estonia left the Macedonians at 19 goals, so I don't see them going over 20 in any case. Since Switzerland have their attacking difficulties, this tip is a logical move. In addition, I expect Macedonians to be more energetic than yesterday and Borjan Mađovski is coming back, as he's a very important defender and the only way for them to match Switzerland is through defense.