Euro 2020, North Macedonia and Finland at their first in football that matters

In collaboration with superscommesse.it Google Maps in hand there are 2729 km that divide Helsinki, the capital of Finland, to Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. In between are centuries of bloody history with divisive outlines and changing landscapes. But Finland and North Macedonia, albeit so far away (in our Eurocentric perspective), have one thing in common that until November 2020 they could never have thought they had. It is not about independence from other states, episodes that came at different times or other political events, but rather a football curiosity. Both will be in their first historic participation in a final phase of a major national event. From Jari Litmanen to the historic first qualification for the European Championship If you think of Finnish football, fans of this sport who have some white hair have an immediate, almost Pavlovian reaction: Jari Litmanen. The youngest will not know this footballer who made Ajax’s fortunes in the mid-90s, less than his national team in which he seemed to preach in the desert or, better, given that we are talking about Finland, in the tundra. Nothing suggested at the time that Finland might one day win the pass for a major football event. The qualification for Euro 2020 came a little unexpected although it must be said that the group in which it was inserted gave the inhabitants of the Scandinavian country a little hope. Apart from Italy, which has made a journey of only victories, the Finnish national team, at the time of the draws, knew very well that the chances of qualifying for the European Championship would be played against Bosnia and Greece. And so it was. Finland’s path was straightforward, almost predictable but absolutely profitable because at the end of the games it turned out to be a winner: two foreseeable knockouts against Italy, two double wins against Armenia and Liechtenstein and a success against both Greece and Bosnia. For the rest, these two national teams have thought of giving Finland the European dream, but now the fun comes for Pukki and his teammates who have been included in the grouping with Belgium, Russia and Denmark. And here history could repeat itself: if the first place seems to have been marked and already assigned to Belgium, the brawl for second place is far from obvious. Without forgetting the rule of the best thirds. Qualification for the round of 16 is not utopia and the odds of the bookmakers relating to the passage of the round also demonstrate this. An analysis of the Superscommesse.it site highlights how the team of coach Kanerva is not favored but not even given as a sacrificial victim since the odds on the shift change between 2.50 and 3 times the stake. Goran Pandev’s dream with his North Macedonia After independence from Yugoslavia in Macedonian land it was necessary to face the nearby Kosovar diaspora and a brief internal war at the beginning of the new millennium which certainly did not help the integration between the peoples present in the land just north of that where the great Alexander was born, namely Alexander the Great. But North Macedonia has the courage and determination of the national team players who took advantage of the first great opportunity that came at hand to bring the population of this small strip of Balkan land to triumph. Goran Pandev’s national team had finished their qualifying round in third place. Poland and Austria are too strong to think of undermining them for the direct qualification to Euro 2020. But luckily, the 24-team European formula offers one more opportunity to get the pass, the play-offs. And in this edition these play-offs came through a cumbersome mechanism in which the subdivisions of the Nations League were called into question. A real godsend for the Macedonian national team that in the last edition of the Nations League was in League C. A series of particular combinations meant that North Macedonia went to compete for the qualification for the European Championship with nationals of the slot dedicated to League D, therefore against certainly less strong national representatives. Thus came first the victory in the semifinal against the Kosovo neighbors and then in the final of the playoff the victory against Georgia signed by Goran Pandev. The former Interista had always dreamed of obtaining satisfaction with his national team and qualification for the European Championship was the result he hoped for. The striker, winner of the 2010 Triplete, will in all likelihood end his career traveling to Europe with his national team and with the armband, a metaphor for his career and the proud people he represents.