The Macedonians showed great effort and determination, but that wasn’t enough for a win as they failed to score. Both goals came from the spot.
photo by FFM: Ivan Trichkovski fires a shot during the match
Angelovski made four changes to the starting eleven against Finland four days ago. Nestorovski, Ademi, Spirovski and Alioski got benched, while Trajkovski, Trichkovski, Nikolov and Radeski were fielded.
Knowing that Azerbaijan is weaker side than Finland, Macedonia started very offensively right from the start. However, the opponents took an early lead by converting a penalty kick.
Araz Abdullayev led a counter attack on the right flank, sent a long ball in the box where Stefan Ristovski pushed Namik Ələskərov in order to catch the ball first. The referee pointed on the spot. Dimitrievski was very close to catch Almeida’s shot, but the Brazilian-born was very precise and broke the dead lock after just 5 minutes of play.
Macedonia continued the offensive play, but could not score. The equalizer came from another penalty kick. This time VAR was needed as Ruslan Abışov’s foul on Goran Pandev was originally pointed outside the box. Aleksandar Trajkovski converted it for 1:1.
Pandev and Kire Ristevski had great scoring chances before the break, but the score stayed unchanged. Also Bardhi tried from free a kick.
Azerbaijan had a colossal chance to once again take the lead. In the 58th minute Dmitri Nazarov found himself alone in front of the Macedonian goal, but Dimitrievski made a great save.
Macedonia dominated the second half as well, showing great effort for winning the game. However, the Lynx failed to score. Trakovski could have been the hero, but failed to convert Nestorovski’s great pass near the end.
Highlights:
To view the match report, click here.
This was the seventh game between Macedonia and Azerbaijan. It’s only a second draw with Macedonia having won the rest 5 encounters.
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