Even in the great triumph of the Macedonian football team against Italy, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski did not allow himself to mention the word Macedonia.

Kovacevski and his SDSM party used the Macedonian flag emoji, in their messages of congratulations to the team. President Pendarovski used the “Macedonian football team” as a pronoun, which the regime insists is still allowed to the country under the terms of their imposed Prespa Treaty.