Albania vs Serbia - World Cup USA 2026 Qualifiers - 07/06/2025

[Aurora Bulkualis]

Balaj at least once in his life scored a crazy goal that made us qualify. If you look at Manaj he only scores against amateur teams. Belarus in the Nations League is the biggest team he's scored against. And even that was 5 years ago.

[Princ]

Manaj has never been a pure goal scorer like Sadiku or Salihi..

Manaj brings more to the game than just scoring goals. He’s tough, he plays well with his back to the goal, he’s a good passer for his position, etc.

I like Manaj!

[artan]

Manaj is literally Bekim Balaj 2.0. He's an amateur and Albania loves it's local amateur players. The worst part is if you're going to be an amateur you atleast need to have a high work rate like Andi Lila who atleast was pressing and had fight to him. Manaj is an amateur in every single aspect. He's lazy, get's bullied by bigger defenders, has no technical skills, can't finish, etc. Awful player stilling living on the fact he "played" for Inter 10 years ago. The worst thing is he'll score a tap in against Lativia and he'll be in the lineup again in the fall. Amateurs like this always get a second, third, fourth chance.

I hate this guy with a passion and I hate the media/FSHF for enabling this amateur. My entire life I've seen them enable these amateurs as some kind of bombers and prolific goal scorers and it always costs us.

It's actually comical how Albania hasn't been able to produce a decent goal scoring forward in ages now, and is probably one of the only countries in Europe to to fail at that.

Albania hasn’t produced a decent player in ages in general. Ernest Muci is probably the best player that has come out of Albania since 2000 with Uzuini and Bare behind them (im excluding Rrahmani and co since they play for Kosovo).

When you can’t produce players you are at the mercy of the diaspora leftovers. But that being said the fact that Broja has been considered the backup for guys like Manaj and cikaleshi since 2020 has been comical. Only Albania.

[Dallku]

Manaj has never been a pure goal scorer like Sadiku or Salihi..

Manaj brings more to the game than just scoring goals. He’s tough, he plays well with his back to the goal, he’s a good passer for his position, etc.

I like Manaj!

If that's the case then it's no wonder he struggles against professional defenders. They are all bigger, stronger and quicker than him.

Milenkovic was winning every single duel against Manaj. It was a major mismatch. So Manaj's physical/back to the goal style becomes irrelevant with the NT. He can only win some of those duels against amateurs.

Bogdani had the best hold up play from any Albanian striker. He was holding the ball with his back even against some of the best defenders the world. Bogdani wasn't a good goal scorer either but he did what you think Manaj does a million times better.

[Princ]

Bogdani had the best hold up play from any Albanian striker. He was holding the ball with his back even against some of the best defenders the world. Bogdani wasn't a good goal scorer either but he did what you think Manaj does a million times better.

Normal..

Bogdani was a big time player for Albanian standards. One of the best of all time..

I like Manaj’s game more than Salihi, Sadiku, Balaj and the other names people have been throwing out though.

I liked Cikalleshi’s game too..

I’m kind of torn on whose game I like more between Manaj and Cikalleshi..

[Redijupison]

It's actually comical how Albania hasn't been able to produce a decent goal scoring forward in ages now, and is probably one of the only countries in Europe to to fail at that.

Albania doesn’t score many goals in general..

Vedat Muriqi is not much better than the guys Albania has produced over the years but Kosovo plays an attacking game and it’s easier to pad the stats that way.

Albania is more like Greece in this regard. Greece is a good bit better than Albania but doesn’t have many big time scorers either.

Kosovo plays a Yugoslav style..

Muriqi is far better than anything Albania has produced in the last 25 years and he'd be perfect for Albania.

[Princ]

Muriqi is far better than anything Albania has produced in the last 25 years and he'd be perfect for Albania.

I disagree..

Muriqi never stood out during his time playing for various Albanian teams including Albania u21.

Uzuni has had as good a club career as anyone and might be the better player, depending on who you ask..

Kosovo plays an attacking game so don’t let the big stats fool you. I don’t think Muriqi is much better than Albion Rrahmani even.

[CanaYouDoIt]

Muriqi is far better than anything Albania has produced in the last 25 years and he'd be perfect for Albania.

I disagree..

Muriqi never stood out during his time playing for various Albanian teams including Albania u21.

Uzuni has had as good a club career as anyone and might be the better player, depending on who you ask..

Kosovo plays an attacking game so don’t let the big stats fool you. I don’t think Muriqi is much better than Albion Rrahmani even.

You can disagree all you want but his 31 goals is double anything any other Albanian has done . Muriqi isn't a bitch mentally or physically unlike Rey Manaj. Rey Manaj is a guy who never lived up to his talent, was at Inter as a teen, failed, failed at various other clubs, somehow got a move to Barca and failed again before moving to Turkey where his team is now relegated, a guy who is a failure.

[Princ]

You can disagree all you want but his 31 goals is double anything any other Albanian has done . Muriqi isn't a bitch mentally or physically unlike Rey Manaj. Rey Manaj is a guy who never lived up to his talent, was at Inter as a teen, failed, failed at various other clubs, somehow got a move to Barca and failed again before moving to Turkey where his team is now relegated, a guy who is a failure.

By that logic, Muriqi’s 31 goals, 7 assists in 4652 minutes (60 games) make him way better than Angelos Charisteas (88 games, 25 goals, 2 assists, 6314 minutes).

We all know Charisteas is on another level though!

It’s not just about stats, but also results. While Muriqi has been stat padding, Kosovo has not achieved better results than Albania.

Even Albion Rrahmani scored 5 goals in the last 2 matches for Kosovo!

[Aurora Bulkualis]

Even if you fused Manaj and Daku together, Bogdani would still be a better player. It's sad how much we've fallen in terms of player development.