Mërgim Vojvoda is a senator of the Kosovo national team and the most capped player for the Dardanelles. He was one of the best players in the qualifying campaign for the World Cup, playing 6 matches as a starter, five of them 90 minutes and another 76 minutes.
Kosovo achieved a historic success, qualifying for the Play-Offs for the World Championship, while Vojvoda in an interview for the telegraph has spoken about the progress of the Dardanians.
The 30-year-old, who has so far played 71 matches for Kosovo (more than any other footballer), ended the qualifying campaign with 526 minutes played and an assist against Slovenia on Fisnik Asllani’s goal.
First, Vojvoda rates Kosovo’s qualifying campaign as one of the best so far, both offensively and defensively. He emphasizes that the team showed stability and great growth throughout the journey.
KosovaPhoto: FFK
“It has been a very positive campaign in every aspect, both offensively where we have scored many goals and defensively, except for the first match where we did not concede any goals until the last match. It has been something positive for us as players and as a national team,” Vojvoda tells Telegraf.
When it comes to the moment when the group with Sweden, Switzerland and Slovenia was seen, Vojvoda admits that the challenge was enormous, but the team believed in its strength and work.
“It was really a very difficult group, as we know the quality of Sweden, Switzerland has shown its quality in every World Cup or every championship it has participated in. Slovenia is a strong national team. I believe that our strength gave confidence to the players and to the great work we have done and in the end we succeeded. The main thing is that we succeeded”, continues the Dardanian right-back.
Part of the success, according to him, was the fact that the team has gained more competition, more depth and has an ideal combination of young and experienced players.
“Kosovo has always had quality footballers, but now there are even more as the competition has increased and we know that when a team has competition it is different and pushes you to become stronger and all this is a mix between young players and those with experience. I believe that this has made this national team more mature and fresher, as we have both. Those of us who were there before, myself, Amiri (Rrahmani), Vedati (Muriqi) or Miloti (Rashica) and others have experience and now these young people have come who help us a lot and are fresh. This made Kosovo very strong”, Vojvoda told Telegraf.
In the Play-Off, Kosovo will first face Slovakia on the road, but if they win, they will then host the winner of the Turkey – Romania duel in Pristina.
Vojvoda remains realistic, but determined. The winger knows Slovakia’s strength, but says Kosovo has the capacity to make the dream a reality.
“The semi-final will be very difficult because we know that we will play in Slovakia and Slovakia is a strong national team, especially when playing at home. However, I believe that every team that has reached the Play-Off has shown that it has the capacity to go to the World Cup and we are part of those national teams. We have the capacity to go to the World Cup and this is this dream and we must do our best to get there. Then we are lucky that the final is in Pristina, however I cannot talk about it yet because we have work to do in the semi-finals”, said the Kosovar defender.
He also reveals the moment when the team began to strongly believe that the Play-Offs were within reach.
“Match after match. I believe that when we drew with Slovenia we believed that we could go and do great things. The match against Slovenia and the one against Sweden gave us a lot of courage to continue to advance.”
On an emotional level, Vojvoda does not forget to thank the fans, appreciating their support as one of the team’s main weapons.
“We know what the atmosphere is like at home, but especially in Slovenia and Sweden we have had the support of the Dardanelles and it has been a great strength for us. I want to thank them with all my heart and I believe that they will support us in Slovakia as well and, God willing, in Pristina in the possible final,” Vojvoda told Telegraf.
Regarding his career at Como and personal goals, he says that the objective is clear: greater progress and achievements season after season, while now aiming for European competitions with the white-and-blue club.
Vojvoda is an undisputed starter at Como and among the best players of this team which is having a great championship in Serie A. The Dardanian star has played nine matches in Serie A, where he has also scored one goal, while he has played two matches in the Italian Cup and has contributed with one assist.
“The objectives with Como are to go as high as possible, to qualify for Europe and to do good things. The club was in Serie B two years ago so until now it has achieved great things very quickly in many aspects. So we still have to work on and I hope to help the team as much as possible to go to Europe.”
Finally, Vojvoda also talks about the collaboration with his coach, the legend Cesc Fabregas, who, according to him, has helped him a lot in his personal development.
“Fabregas is a maestro as we call him. He is a very young coach as he started immediately after finishing his career. It is a good thing that he still has the reflexes of the players and knows how to treat the players and that is very important.”
“With him we can progress in every aspect. He is Spanish and we know how the Spanish play and it suits me a lot, as I like to have frequent contact with the ball and adapt to many systems and this is a good thing,” concluded Vojvoda.
Como, after 11 matches in Serie A, is in seventh place in the table with 18 points, six less than the leader Inter. Mërgim Vojvoda’s team is the team with the second strongest defense in Serie A after Roma, while the white and blue team will play their next match against Torino on the road. /Telegraph/