28.09.2007, 01:45
Vardar to end bad series

FYR Macedonia Vardar pro hope to win against Kadetten Schaffhausen. A victory would end four seasons of bad luck whent hey lost the opening games of the group matches.

Vardar to end bad series

Vardar pro have never won before a CL opener and they managed only one draw, two seasons ago. This season, the first match will be played in Skopje. Kadetten Schaffhausen have already played in FYR Macedonia before, two years ago against Pelister.

Both teams claim that they will fight for the third place of the group as Croatia Osiguranje and Ademar are strong favorites for the top two places. After the game in Skopje, Vardar will play two games within a week: first in Zagreb and then against Leon. If the FYR Macedonian team win in Skopje, they could travel without pressure.

"We hope that our sports hall will be full as usual. Supporters are our 8th players and we'll need their support from the tribunes. Vardar pro are a new team with many new players, still, we are trying to show our best performance. Saturday’s game is the most important at the moment. It's our chance to stay alive,” said Veselin Vujovic, coach of Vardar pro.

He is optimistic about Saturday’s game, but also cautious. The form of his team can change game to game, with lots of "ups and downs" during the matches. Without a real star in the team, Vardar can play well but also very badly. No one could predict the results of their games.

In their domestic championship, Vardar pro made a 32-32 away draw against city rivals, Metalurg. Vardar had a 10-goal lead for 35 minutes, but they still had to fight for the equalizer in the last seconds.

"This game is behind us. We played a fantastic first half, but also a very problematic second half. We're focusing on the next three games, but mainly on this one in Skopje. I'll try to find the appropriate tactics against Kadetten, but I know that in this moment the Swiss team have an advantage. We changed many players, we need to improve our form, while Kadetten are an experienced team with 11 international players. Some of them I know very well,” said Vujovic. 

Experienced players left

After almost all the experienced players decided to leave Skopje, the club management are looking for high quality equally reinforcements. At the moment, there are no real stars in the team.

"The club is still looking for a quality back player, we couldn't find him yet. We'll continue this search. I'm optimistic about Vardar pro improving respect to last year. We have two good players for each position, we just need more time to work,” said Mihajlo Mihajlovski, President of the club.

Vardar pro signed nine players so far: goalkeepers Mario Blazevic and Nikola Mitrevski, pivot Nikola Markovski and Marko Pejovic,back players Nemanja Pribak, Obrad Radulovic, Marko Vukcevic and Montenegin youngsters, Milos Kaluderovic and Stefan Vujovic.

The list of players leaving is also long: Naumce Mojsovski signed in Spain, just as Tihomir Doder. Laze Majnov and Golub Donic went to Italy, Viktor Kovalenko to Slovenia and Vasiuk Andriy to Romania. Goalkeeper Zoran Petkovski retired and continues as a coach of young handballers. The management released pivot Darko Janev and Filip Angelovski. 

Reinforcement for a week

Back player, Mite Karivanov, will play for Vardar pro this game after the club signs him on loan from Mladost Resen for a week. Vardar pro say that Karivanov can help with his big long range shots.

"Karivanov still needs CL experience, but I hope we can benefit from him,” said Vujovic.

TEXT: Goran Antevski