Türkiye 4-0 FYR Macedonia, dominance confirmed on Monday night in Istanbul as V. Montella’s rotation still hit every beat one week out from the squad announcement for Germany. The friendly might have been billed as a tune-up but the scoreboard read like a qualifying rout.
Türkiye were already ahead inside two minutes: Oğuz Aydın released Orkun Kökçü, who finished the move in the 2nd minute and set the tempo that Montella’s 4-3-3 chased all evening. The front three repeatedly pinned B. Milevski’s 3-4-3 into its own third and the second goal, struck by Can Uzun in the 16th minute from Eren Elmalı’s cut-back, felt like the inevitable reward for unrelenting pressure.
Montella's first tweak came in the 27th minute, withdrawing Elmalı for Zeki Çelik to manage minutes while leaving the Salih Özcan-Orkun Kökçü axis in place through halftime. Uzun drifted into the half spaces, linked with Yunus Akgün and Deniz Gül, and dominated the inside channels. Macedonia’s only response was the yellow card shown to Imran Fetai for a late challenge in the 42nd minute.
The coach tore up half the XI at the interval, sending on Kaan Ayhan, Samet Akaydın and İrfan Can Kahveci, yet the fluency survived the shake-up. Uzun, still on the pitch, teed up Deniz Gül for the third in the 53rd minute after shaking the visitors’ second-string defense. FYR Macedonia swapped six players at the break, another four by the 66th minute and still could not stop the drift: Kahveci slipped Barış Alper Yılmaz through for the fourth goal in the 70th minute as Türkiye’s substitutes kept the intensity high.
Milevski’s flood of changes never solved the spacing problem between his back line and midfield, even as Darko Churlinov and Milan Ristovski tried to break in transition. Two shots on target across 90 minutes told the story of a side second to every loose ball. By the final whistle Montella had used ten outfield substitutes plus goalkeeper Muhammed Şengezer, including a late cameo for Hakan Çalhanoğlu in the 88th minute, and still protected a clean sheet shared by Altay Bayındır and Şengezer.
Next up is trimming the final list for Germany; Montella has ruthless selection calls to make but Uzun, Aydın and the emerging Gül strengthened their claims. Macedonia, routed here, now enter September’s UEFA Nations League cycle needing a sharper press and clearer roles for Eljif Elmas and Ezgjan Alioski if Milevski wants to keep play-off ambitions alive.
Statistics:
- Shots: Türkiye 20, FYR Macedonia 6
- On target: Türkiye 8, FYR Macedonia 2
- Possession: Türkiye 60 percent, FYR Macedonia 40 percent
- Corners: Türkiye 13, FYR Macedonia 1
- Fouls: Türkiye 14, FYR Macedonia 12
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