Agim Ibraimi: After the Switzerland setback, Macedonia goes for a win vs Slovenia

Agim Ibraimi, 38, former Maribor star and current member of the Football Federation of North Macedonia (FFM) board, spoke to Slovenian media ahead of North Macedonia’s Nations League meeting with Slovenia. Ibraimi — who played for four Slovenian clubs (Olimpija, Nafta, Maribor and Domžale) and won four domestic league titles and two cups with Maribor — was asked about the heavy loss to Switzerland and the upcoming home fixture against Slovenia.

His career in Slovenia remains well remembered: he scored a memorable goal for Maribor in November 2014 in a Champions League draw with Chelsea and later collected domestic honours with “the Violets.” Now a football official, he was candid about the national team’s chances and problems.

Realism first, ambition next

On the team’s immediate goals, Ibraimi was blunt: "From Macedonia's perspective we must be realistic. The national teams of Switzerland, Scotland and Slovenia are in this group. The first goal must be to stay in League B of the Nations League. Everything else is a bonus. We expect points and wins against Slovenia. The players are very motivated, and we also played well in Slovenia recently."

Asked about Slovenia’s display against Scotland, he underlined shared difficulties: "Macedonians also have similar problems as Slovenians. We cannot find the right formation, we must analyse this well. You cannot build a career through the national team; if you are not a regular at your club, you cannot be at the required level for the national team either. The problems of the two teams are similar, players want to prove themselves to the new coach. In my view, Slovenia was not dangerous enough against the Scots. Neither the Slovenians nor the Macedonians were at the right level in recent matches."

Turning to the defeat by Switzerland, Ibraimi noted tactical and mental lapses: "The match against Switzerland was very bad. Switzerland played routinely, but we made individual mistakes and it is difficult to get back into the game against such a strong team. But we have many young footballers who will be our pillars in the next ten years."

He also signalled possible changes from the coaching staff and criticised an overreliance on data: "I think our coach will change certain things for the match against Slovenia. The simple fact is that, unfortunately, our players are not regulars in their clubs. Therefore there are no automatisms in the national team, the system changes and players are not used to that. I do not like that in modern football we rely only on analysis and numbers. What good are the data that run if the players make mistakes? Football is passion, the street, this element must be brought back to make everything more interesting."

On tactical specifics and selection, he assessed forward deployment and named contenders: "Against Switzerland we played with two tall forwards who poorly covered Switzerland's last midfielder in building attacks. From this, Switzerland had full control over the match. But the match is different from the match and I believe that our national team will be more dangerous against Slovenia. We will look for mistakes in Slovenia's defence, because we see they have problems with opponent transition. Macedonia will definitely be better this time than in recent matches."

About young attacking options he added: "He and Enis Bardhi are candidates for the starting lineup. Dimitar is a number-ten player, very talented, has a good left foot, the same goes for Bardhi. If we play with two number-tens, then we will play possession football. So if Mitrovski doesn't start, we will play on counterattacks. He is a good player, in rhythm, he plays for Olimpija and why shouldn't players who have minutes start."

Photo: press material from the event