Lots of hopes for first points, but Ukraine grabbed the points in the second match for Macedonia at the EURO. Two goals conceded in the opening half, much better play after the break, but only one goal and a saved penalty.

photo by FFM: Pandev watches the duel between Stepanenko and Alioski

Macedonian coach Igor Angelovski started with Stole Dimitrievski between the posts; Visar Musliu, Darko Velkovski and Stefan Ristovski in the back line; Ezgjan Alioski left with Boban Nikolov on the right side; Stefan Spirovski and Arijan Ademi in central midfield, Enis Bardhi as trequartista, Elif Elmas and captain Goran Pandev in the attack. That is one change from the Austria match as Spirovski came in for Trajkovski. A lot of midfielders in this lineup with no natural striker.

The first chance came in the 4th minute when Dimitrievski punched away a cross. The rebound fell to a Ukraine player outside of the box, but his shot sailed well wide.

Three minutes Velkovski slided and made a block on a low cross from Yarmolenko. It went for a corner. In the next minute Dimitrievski saved a powerful shot from Malinovskyi for a second Ukrainian corner.

Yaremchuk wasted a great look in the 11th minute. He was through on goal, but Ristovski run fast, recovered, and blocked a cross from Yaremchuk. He had a chance to shoot earlier, but thankfully he chose to cross and Ristovski blocked it. Replays showed maybe Yaremchuk was slightly offside.

The first Macedonian attempt came in the 15th minute when Bardhi had a long range effort blocked. Bardhi has great technique on shots from distance. Too bad that was blocked. It was definitely heading on target, and you want to test the keeper.

Just a minute later a shot by Elmas from a tight angle hit the side netting. It never looked to be threatening the keeper, though.

Bad giveaway from Ademi in the 23rd minute. Ukraine went the other way, Yarmolenko cut in to his left, but Musliu got a piece to barely block the ball and reduced its velocity. That allowed the keeper to punch away the ball from danger.

29th minute: Ukraine break the dead lock. From the subsequent corner kick, a great back-heel pass from Karavayev found Yarmolenko who managed to get his shot past Dimitrievski. Deserving lead from Ukraine, it had to be said. The attack has struggled to create much of anything, and the Ukraine press was causing a lot of mistakes by our players.

34th minute: Ukraine took a 2:0 lead. Yaremchuk scored with a good finish. He was held onside by Velkovski who he outmaneuvered and then a nice finish.

Pandev scores a goal in the 39th minute that was called back for offside. Replays did show he was slightly offside.

Shaparenko got a yellow card 3 minutes before the break for diving inside the area and trying to deceive the referee. Good call by the Argentinian referee, clear dive.

Ukraine went in the locker room with a 2:0 lead. Deserved lead from Ukraine who have been sharp and crisp. Their pressing was putting pressure on our players who ware panicking and making mistakes.

Churlinov and Trajkovski entered the game at the start of the second half for Spirovski and Nikolov.

Huge save by Bushchan right at the start of the second half. Ademi had a great effort after a pass from Pandev, but the keeper got down and made a great save.

More intensity/fight from our players in the second half, something that was missing in the opening half.

Dimitrievski made a nice save on a powerful free kick from Malinovskyi in the 51st minute.

55th minute: Penalty for Macedonia! Trajkovski had a missile well saved by the keeper. It striked the post. The rebound saw Pandev fouled and Fernando Rapallini pointed to the spot.

57th minute: Alioski scored for Macedonia! Alioski’s initial penalty was well saved, but Gjanni scored on the rebound. Macedonia got right back in the game.

Dimitrievski saved a rocket from Malinovskiy in the 65th minute. Then, some pushing and shoving between him and Yaremchuk. Referee came in to break it up.

Trajkovski tried a bouncing long range shot in the 68th minute that the keeper barely saved.

69th minute was underway when Ademi blew a big chance. He needed to shoot there, but instead he tried a pass that is a tad long. Ukraine was barely hanging on out there. Macedonia had all the momentum in that period.

Five minutes later Ukraine missed a big chance. Their shot went wide.

Avramovski came on for Bardhi in the 77th minute. That was a big step back in terms of quality, but Bardhi recently having COVID meant he was exhausted.

82nd minute: VAR check for a potential penalty for Ukraine. Penalty to Ukraine! The referee saw a hand ball blocked a free kick attempt from Malinovskiy. He gave out a yellow card to Avramovski for handball.

84th minute: Dimitrievski saved the penalty. Still some life for Macedonia, but only a few minutes remaining.

In the injury time a header from Avramovski went well wide, while later a rocket from Trajkovski went wide. Unlike the Austria match, Trajkovski was really good today.

Final: Ukraine 2:1 Macedonia. Macedonia is officially eliminated from progressing further at EURO 2020 after this loss. Tale of two halves today. Second half performance was really good, but we could not make up for a lackluster opening half. As they say, too little too late.

Overall, we all really felt there was an opening in this group. However, it was not meant to be. The players have earned respect based on their displays so far, but 0 points is 0 points. Still a great achievement to get to play in these games and this competition.

Not having a good #9 really hurts in these types of games. We entered the match giving Ukraine too much respect. In the second half, when our players were in “no fucks given” mode, they looked much better.

Our next match is on Monday against the Netherlands at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam at 18.00 CET.

Match report | Standings

Facts regarding this match:

• 55th match for Goran Pandev as captain.
• 30th cal for Darko Velkovski.
• 9th goal for Ezgjan Alioski.
• 5th penalty kick for Ezgjan Alioski, 1st missed.
• 1st penalty save for Stole Dimitrievski.