Davitkov warns Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia players to expect tough battles
SKOPJE (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Pre-Qualifiers) - The coach of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD), Jordanco Davitkov, has warned his players they'll have to pull out all stops
SKOPJE (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Pre-Qualifiers) - The coach of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD), Jordanco Davitkov, has warned his players they'll have to pull out all stops in order to reach the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers.
The Macedonians are in Group C of the World Cup 2019 European Pre-Qualifiers and will face Kosovo and Estonia. The top two sides from the group will advance.
The Macedonians are the more accomplished of the three sides in recent years but Davitkov says his players won't be looking past their Group C rivals.
"If someone says that we are in the same group with Estonia and Kosovo and that we will have an easy task, he is lying," Davitkov said. "We saw this last year, people saying that Great Britain and Hungary are easy opponents, we have seen that it is not the case."
Indeed, MKD squared off against both Hungary and Great Britain in FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifying and lost twice to each to finish third in their group. The Hungarians and Brits made it to FIBA EuroBasket. In the process, they claimed automatic spots in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers.
"In Europe, basketball is at a much higher level than before and has no weak teams," Davitkov said. "We are aware of it and will do everything we can to reach a place in World Cup qualifying, which means an automatic place in qualifying for the next European Championship."
Among the players in the 24-man Macedonian squad is the naturalized guard, Jordan Theodore.
Theodore has been one of the most exciting players in Europe the past two seasons and is expected to play for the Macedonians
A star with Banvit this past season, Theodore was named the MVP of the Basketball Champions League.
Can't wait to get to national team
— Jordan Theodore (@Casanovaisreal) July 1, 2017
MKD have also included their famous naturalized player of FIBA EuroBasket 2011, Bo McCalebb, as a back-up plan. He was named to the All-Star Five six years ago in Lithuania.
| Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD) 24-man squad ahead of World Cup European Pre-Qualifiers | ||||
| Pero Antic | Vladimir Brckov | Gjorgij Chekovski | Nenad Dimitrijevic | Stojan Gjuroski |
| Marjan Janeski | Aleksandar Kostoski |
Bojan Krstevski
|
Gorjan Markovski | Andrej Maslinko |
| Bo McCalebb | Adem Mekic | Mihajlo Mitev | Ljubomir Mladenovski | Kristijan Nikolov |
| Kiril Nikolovski | Predrag Pajic | Igor Penov | Marko Simonovski | Boban Stajic |
| Vojdan Stojanovski | Aleksandar Sterjov | Jordan Theodore | Bojan Trajkovski | |
The Macedonians had a string four straight FIBA EuroBasket appearances snapped when they failed to qualify for this year's event.
Estonia competed at FIBA EuroBasket 2015, while Kosovo have yet to play at the event.
FIBA