Second win in a row for Macedonia after the Red Lions beat Slovenia 3:2 in a friendly game in Skopje.
Both managers used this opportunity to test new players and also to give some playing time to seldomly used players as well. Slovenia was very close to opening the score in the 9th minute as Ferhan Hasani used his hand in the box and the referee awarded a penalty for the visitors. However, Pachovski saved Jasmin Kurtič’s shot and denied Slovenia the lead.
The breakthrough came in the 26th minute when Macedonia took the 1:0 lead. Debutante Adis Jahovikj assisted to Darko Tasevski who eventually, in this 40th national team game, scored his first goal. Four minutes before half-time, the Macedonians doubled the lead. This time it was Jahovikj who scored with a header following a free kick by Agim Ibraimi.
Just four minutes into the second half, the Slovenians got back in the game. After Kirm’s cross, Nejc Pečnik used the bad positioning of Lazevski to reduce the deficit. But, this result only stood for two minutes as Agim Ibraimi fired a shot from around 25 meters which was terribly misplayed Samir Handanovič for a rather fortunate goal.
Slovenia did manage a second goal in the 63rd minute through Pečnik once again who utilized a mistake by the Macedonian back line to escape the offside trap and fire a shot past Martin Bogatinov.
This was the third game between these two national teams, all of them being friendlies. Macedonia has now won all 3 games with the first two being the first ever official games of the Macedonian national football team, played back in 1993 and 1994.
To view the match report click here.
Complete game highlights: