‘It’s England’s turn,’ say confident Kosovo, Europe’s surprise team

Pristina: Kosovo will take the field in Southampton on Tuesday for their first ever international against England as surprise contenders at the top of Group A in Euro 2020 qualification.

Recent results have given the team ranked 120th in the world hope of an upset.

“To beat England, we’ll have to fight like complete madmen,” Swiss coach Bernard Challandes told Kosovo media.

It would be a coup for a team that only played their first official international in 2014.

“It’s going to be difficult,” said Frankfurt-born midfielder Besar Halimi, who plays for Sandhausen in the Bundesliga 2.

“England has an extraordinary team with players who play in the Champions League every year. You have to take it as an experience, give the best and hope to take points.” Because Serbia disputed Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence, the young country was not fully recognised by the international football bodies until 2015.

Kosovo, a poor country of some 2 million inhabitants, made their competitive debut in World Cup qualifying when a penalty by Valon Berisha earned a promising 1-1 draw away to Finland. They lost their next nine group games scoring only two more goals and conceding another 23.

The arrival of Swiss coach Bernard Challandes at the beginning of 2018 stabilised the team. When they gained their first ever international win against Madagascar in March 2018, Albania were ranked 177th out of 221 football nations in the world.

Grouped with other teams from the bottom tier of European football, their debut in a UEFA competition, the Nations League, last year, brought victories over the Faeroes, Azerbaijan and Malta.

Topping their group means that, even if Kosovo fail to take one of the top two places in their Euro group, they will have another chance in the playoffs.

Agencies