The Macedonian A national team convincingly lost 7:0 to England in the qualifying match of the 3rd round for placement in the European Championship 2024.

Macedonia played two draws against England in 2002 and 2006, but tonight they simply could not repeat something like that at Old Trafford, and that became clear in the first half.

Our strongest national team had a three-goal deficit at halftime, although they fought well and parried for 29 minutes away in Manchester. After we conceded the first goal, the serious attacks of the home football players simply did not stop.

Harry Kane opened the scoring after Luke Shaw's pass, but by the end of the half, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford were also on the scoresheet.

Already in this part of the match, it became clear that Macedonia will leave with a defeat in the qualifiers, but the start of the second part was an announcement of the heavy defeat. Bukayo Saka scored a fantastic goal for 4:0, the same player completed a hat-trick in the 51st minute, and later Phillips and Kane scored a goal for the final 7:0.

At the press conference after the match, coach Milevski apologized to the entire nation for the convincing defeat and the lackluster edition.

"I want to apologize to the entire Macedonian nation for our publication that we presented. I am the coach of this team, I choose the players and the responsibility is mine. I want to send my apologies to the whole nation and a special apology to all the fans, especially those who came to support us in Manchester.

Unfortunately, things like this happen in football. These are the same footballers who played with Italy and Portugal. I am the same coach, but there are days like this in football. We failed in every way. Starting from me, then in all the lines of the field. I am responsible in the first place, I choose the players and determine who will play. We played against the most playful team in Europe, but we failed in all our expectations. This does not mean that we should give up. I'm a fighter and I don't plan to give up, we need to be strong and united even in difficult moments like this."