Albanian Football Forum

I mentioned this a while back, but I said the diff between Albania and Kosovo is the Albanian amateurs have always had some big moment. Salihi vs. Norway, Balaj vs. Portugal, Asani vs Czech Poland, and now Manaj.

I dont expect a Manaj renaissance, but the more of these upsets we collect, the stronger will we become mentally. We had a 1 in 6 chance of winning here according to bookies + the added nationalist angle pressure.

Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Sun Oct 12, 2025 6:18 pm I mentioned this a while back, but I said the diff between Albania and Kosovo is the Albanian amateurs have always had some big moment. Salihi vs. Norway, Balaj vs. Portugal, Asani vs Czech Poland, and now Manaj.

I dont expect a Manaj renaissance, but the more of these upsets we collect, the stronger will we become mentally. We had a 1 in 6 chance of winning here according to bookies + the added nationalist angle pressure.

Dude, Manaj is far from an amateur. The main difference between the two teams is the play style. Albania plays defensive and counter-attacking football and it's the smart way for any team that wants to have a chance against stronger opponents.

Kosova with their 433 and attacking play style can easily beat C & D level teams, but struggle against the better teams. Ironically Kosova's biggest results have come while playing defensive and counter-attacking football against Czechia & Sweden.

Redijupison wrote: Sun Oct 12, 2025 7:50 pm Albania plays defensive and counter-attacking football

Defensive yes. Counter-attacking no and that's been a huge problem, because we fail to threaten teams when protecting a lead. All our counterattacking is individual effort from Broja to Bajrami.

All our biggest goals have been some crazy individual effort. Asani's two goals, Bajrami's goals against Czechs and Italy, Manaj's goal here. I actually WISH we could counterattack properly.

Tons of missed penalties last night..

International games are tough. Pressure is high.

Can’t overlook any opponent nowadays..

Even Malta and Andorra can cause problems.

Let alone Faroe Islands who have a SQUAD!

Ran through Czechia and Montenegro while scoring 6 goals!

Redijupison wrote: Sun Oct 12, 2025 7:50 pm

Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Sun Oct 12, 2025 6:18 pm I mentioned this a while back, but I said the diff between Albania and Kosovo is the Albanian amateurs have always had some big moment. Salihi vs. Norway, Balaj vs. Portugal, Asani vs Czech Poland, and now Manaj.

I dont expect a Manaj renaissance, but the more of these upsets we collect, the stronger will we become mentally. We had a 1 in 6 chance of winning here according to bookies + the added nationalist angle pressure.

Dude, Manaj is far from an amateur. The main difference between the two teams is the play style. Albania plays defensive and counter-attacking football and it's the smart way for any team that wants to have a chance against stronger opponents.

Kosova with their 433 and attacking play style can easily beat C & D level teams, but struggle against the better teams. Ironically Kosova's biggest results have come while playing defensive and counter-attacking football against Czechia & Sweden.

Manaj has redeemed himself with that goal and a good second half performance before the subbing out but he's generally been poor for Albania. Generally, his hold up play is below average at best because he doesn't have the size or strength but has some aggression which makes him okay at times in that aspect But he has no pace & technical ability, he doesn't defend, poor stamina, and he's a below average goal poacher since he doesn't have the size or athleticism to be an aerial threat. He's a goal poacher but yet he'll need 3 good chances before he puts one away which means he's actually not a goal poacher and if he's not a goal poacher than what is he?

He plays well in leagues like Turkey as the pace is probably fast and in general lots of chances are created due to errors and lack of overall league quality. In international play against professional teams he doesn't get those chances. It's why he's only scored against teams like Kazakhstan, San Marino and Moldova before yesterday. But that being said this is generally a problem most Albanian forwards face so it is what it is. The only exception is Broja who obviously has talent but is not serious about football.

Albania is the newest addition to our projected WC playoffs.

If they find themselves in PO, they are almost certain to play the Semifinal AWAY against a Pot 2 team.

Playoff seeding:
Pot 1⃣ = 0%
Pot 2⃣ = 3% ( SF v Pot 3 team)
Pot 3⃣ = 97% ( SF v Pot 2 team)
Pot 4⃣ = 0%

Probability for PO semifinal opponents, assuming they 100% qualify for Playoffs:

21% Czechia
17% Poland
17% Hungary
11% Scotland
6% Wales
5% Slovakia
4% Sweden
4% Slovenia
4% Ukraine
3% Romania
2% Greece
1% Türkiye
...

Maximum probability one matchup can have is 25% because each team in PO will have 4 possible opponents in the draw.

Details about WC playoffs for ALL TEAMS, including:
probability to be in each pot
probability to host a WC playoff semifinal
most likely opponents in WC playoffs
...are available for our members (in bio)

We got Serbia in football.. now we coming in basketball

Simboli i Diellit wrote: Sun Oct 12, 2025 10:44 pm Albania is the newest addition to our projected WC playoffs.

If they find themselves in PO, they are almost certain to play the Semifinal AWAY against a Pot 2 team.

Playoff seeding:
Pot 1⃣ = 0%
Pot 2⃣ = 3% ( SF v Pot 3 team)
Pot 3⃣ = 97% ( SF v Pot 2 team)
Pot 4⃣ = 0%

Probability for PO semifinal opponents, assuming they 100% qualify for Playoffs:

21% Czechia
17% Poland
17% Hungary
11% Scotland
6% Wales
5% Slovakia
4% Sweden
4% Slovenia
4% Ukraine
3% Romania
2% Greece
1% Türkiye
...

Maximum probability one matchup can have is 25% because each team in PO will have 4 possible opponents in the draw.

Details about WC playoffs for ALL TEAMS, including:
probability to be in each pot
probability to host a WC playoff semifinal
most likely opponents in WC playoffs
...are available for our members (in bio)

Slovenia looks like the easiest. Maybe Czechs since they don't seem in good form.

Although with Slovenia their strongest points are CF and GK, the two most crucial positions that can change a game in a split second.

Princ wrote: Sun Oct 12, 2025 11:07 pm We got Serbia in football.. now we coming in basketball

Beselidhja Lezhe is dominating our league, if we could naturalize few Americans we can maybe qualify for Euro's or World Cup. Serbia's NT basket level is imposible to reach atm at least for 10 years. Look at Croatia's basket, they got results with players they had just after Yugoslavia's breakup, then they had a downfall which continues to this day....