After the victory over Latvia with 3:0, Armenia was defeated in Yerevan with 2:0 for a perfect October that brings Macedonia ahead of promotion in the League B of the Nations League. This was the eighth win in 15 matches against Armenia and the fourth in a row. For the first time in history, we win three times in a row without conceding a goal.
photo by Robert Spasovski FFM/Ekipa
After the initial initiative of the home team, Macedonia was the first to threaten. In the 4th minute, a great cross by Elmas at the first post, where Serafimov scored with an excellent header, but the goal was disallowed due to offside. For more than three minutes, the English referees carried out a VAR check and then, with a dubious final decision, ruled that the goal was not regular.
That moment seemed to be a sign for Armenia to fully open up and until the end of the first half they had several threats to our goal that remained unrealized primarily due to the inaccuracy of their attackers as well as the concentration of our goalkeeper Dimitrievski. The attempts of Bichakhchyan in the 23rd and 44th minutes, Spetsyan in the 31st and 33rd, Zelarayán in the 42nd minute and Miranyan in the last moments of the first half, are noteworthy.
Macedonia finished the first 45 minutes without making a single shot within the Armenian goal.
The second half started with a great chance for the home team. In the 48th minute, Tiknizyan assisted Miranyan who was alone in front of Dimitrievski’s goal but the Macedonian goalkeeper made an outstanding save. One minute later Zelarayan had an effort on goal but once again Dimitrievski emerged as the winner in the duel with the Armenian attackers.
In the 54th minute, a triple substitution was made by the Coach Milevski, who was obviously not satisfied with what he was seeing. Kjamili, Kostadinov and Velkovski entered the game instead Atanasov, Dimoski and Manev. With these substitutions we broke the rhythm of the home team and we managed to stop their initial aggression.
In the 62nd minute, an extraordinary shot from a free kick by Bardhi from about 20 meters diagonally, but the goalkeeper Čančarević saved a goal from under the crossbar. Velkovski ran at the rebound, but shot wide of the goal.
In the 72nd minute, our better play resulted in a goal. Elmas tried with a solo breakthrough and an unsuccessful attempt to fake a penalty, but the action continued with a great pass from Alimi to Miovski who scored a phenomenal goal with a 15-meter shot from an angle, placing the ball in the opposite corner to give Macedonia the lead.
Five minutes later, in the 77th minute Armenia had a chance to equalize through Dashyan but his shot was blocked by Zajkov. Our better play in the second half resulted in a second goal in the 85th minute. Alioski assisted Alimi, who followed up the previous assist for Miovski with a great goal, confirming that he was our best player in this match.
By the end of the match, the Armenians tried to score at least an honorable goal in the six minutes of stoppage time, but Tiknizyan, Sevikyan and Spertsyan’s shots ended up outside the frame of our goal.
Highlights:
Macedonia is the leader in Group 4 in the League C of UEFA Nations League with 6 points ahead of Armenia and Latvia and only theoretically needs to confirm the first place by playing the last two matches in November