Today at 15:00 in the match of the 8th round in the PMFL, the big, if not the biggest, derby in Macedonian football is being played at the City Stadium in Tetovo, where Shkendija and Vardar meet. This will be a "red-black" derby, this will be a showdown between the clubs that together "weigh" 15 titles, and together dominated the mac-football for over a decade, but also clubs that for three (Shkendija) or four years (Vardar), they don't know what a trophy is. It is clear that when Vardar and Shkendija play, or Shkendija and Vardar like today, all eyes are on this match, although today almost all other meetings of this round are extra important
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For Shkendija today, all but the three points will be a failure. The atmosphere in Tetovo will be hot, Zaharievski's boys will not go out there with a white flag, they will try to remain undefeated and increase the points balance. Shkendija were defeated by Gostivar in the last round, it was their first defeat this season, but it’s clear now that the road to the title will be even more difficult and tricky this season. Shkendija spent most of all teams in the league this summer, and somehow, they expected bigger dominance which is not the case so far. They are 2nd, with 14 points, a point less than Gostivar and a point more than Rabotnicki.
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After the defeat by Sileks at home, Vardar are facing a difficult mission. How to "make up" for that in this difficult away match against Shkendija? Shkendija are considered the favorite, taking into account the position at the table, the playing staff, and the home field. The fact that Vardar have not won against Shkendija in the last 18 games between them is incredible. The last victory of the "red and black" was seven years ago, in 2017 when they celebrated with 4-2. From then on, Shkendija celebrated in both the championship and the Cup, or the duels ended without a winner. Vardar despite the huge financial injections they got are struggling a lot this season and are in 9th place with only 7 points.
This will be their 67th match. So far, Shkendija are somewhat better, they have 27 victories, and Vardar won in 23 matches, while 16 meetings ended without a winner. The goal difference is 86:81 for Shkendija. The last match in Skopje ended with a score of 1:1, and the last time Vardar celebrated over Shkendija was exactly seven years ago when on October 14, 2017, it was 4:2 for the Skopje’s "red and black". Since then, 18 meetings have been played and Shkendija have not lost against Vardar in official matches. Today, Shkendija are the favorite again, and I expect them to win the match and the match to finish with over 2.5 goals.