Overnight Aleksandar Trajkovski went from a relatively little known player, even in Macedonia, to the most beloved person in the country.

The 29 year old striker scored the decisive goal in the final minutes of the World Cup qualifier against Italy yesterday, leaving them home and giving Macedonia a shot at its first ever World Cup.

Trajkovski made his way from Skopje’s Cementarnica team, through gigs in Croatia and Belgium, while trying out for Chelsea. He now plays in Saudi Arabia.

Trajkovski is actually best known for his four years in Palermo – the very place where he became famous. Italy wanted to reduce the number of Macedonian fans at the game and chose its most distant major stadium for the game – little did it know that for Trajkovski it’s de-facto home turf. He scored 16 goals with Palermo.