Instead of the best game of this European Championship, the Macedonian national team played one of the weakest matches in its previous participations in the continental gatherings and with a defeat to Portugal 3:0 (25:13, 25:20, 25:20) lost its chances of hoping for a place in the round of 16. In front of about 50 Macedonian fans in the Sofia Arena, the chosen ones of the coach Joško Milenksoski did not show even 50% of their real possibilities and allowed themselves to leave the victory to the opponents, who will now wait for our outcome from the duel with Israel to possibly squeeze into the knockout phase.
At the start of the match, Portugal started with three points in a row (0:3). We managed to stabilize the game and reach the first equalizer with Ljaftov's point for 6:6. A new series of our mistakes followed, after which the Portuguese returned to plus three for (6:9) and the first time-out for Milenkoski. Portugal continued in the same series and at 7:12 our coach was forced to use the second time-out. Nothing changed until the middle of the set when Portugal already had a capital of 8 points (9:16). Then we saw an incomprehensible total powerlessness of our national team, and Portugal, as if out of a joke, won the set with a high score of 13:25.
We started the second set much better. Although Portugal was the first to take a two-point lead (5:7), we managed to quickly recover, get into a rhythm and turn the score in our favor. We took the lead 10:8, after which the Portuguese coach was forced to call a minute's rest. This obviously worked out well for the Portuguese, who later regained their rhythm and took a 13:15 lead, after which Milenkoski had to call a time-out. Despite all hopes, the finish of the set was in the style of all the previous ones we played at this championship. Error after error and a new set for Portugal, this time with 20:25.
We opened the third set great. Stojan Iliev returned to the first line-up and scored several points in a row and we reached a 6:3 lead. However, following the recipe from the previous two sets, Portugal quickly came back and managed to cancel the lead to 8:8. A period followed in which both teams exchanged the lead, until 13:15 when, after a few of our mistakes, the Portuguese got into a rhythm. Things took a turn for the worse when Portugal already reached 14:18, so Milenkoski used the second time-out. Until the end, Portugal did not fail to punish our poor play and closed the match with 20>25.
In our team, Iliev and Ljaftov each had 8 points, while Nikola Gjorgiev finished with 6 points. Ferreira dominated Portugal with 17 conversions.
For Macedonia, tomorrow's match against Israel remains, which will conclude our fourth appearance at the continental championships.
