The Macedonian U17 national team opened the qualification campaign in Group 3 with a 1:1 draw against Turkey in Turnovo.

The stream on the official website of FFM was not working early in the game when Turkey initially took the lead in the 9th minute through Atabey Çiçek.  The Macedonian youngsters kept battling and the best player on the team, Daniel Avramovski, played a part in the equalizer in the 25th minute.  Avramovski from Rabotnicki attempted the shot towards goal that ultimately resulted in an own goal that was scored by Turkish defender İbrahim Aydın to tie the game at 1:1.

The match included two halves of 40 minutes apiece.  In about the middle of the second half, Macedonia U17 went down to 10 men after Jordan Naumovski picked up his second yellow card of the game in the 65th minute and thus received a red card by the referee.  Neither side was able to create a quality chance for the majority of the second half although Turkey did threaten late in the game.  Macedonia U17 was down to 9 men at this point since Mentor Sulejmani was injured and was receiving treatment on the sideline.  Turkey was even 5 on 3 going towards the Macedonian goal but the shot by one of the Turkish player was saved by the Macedonian keeper Iliev.

Macedonia and Turkey are now tied for second place with 1 point apiece in Group 3 as Scotland currently tops the group with 3 points since they won 3:0 over San Marino in the other game played today.  Macedonia U17 next faces Scotland on 26 October before they close the qualifications on 29 October against San Marino.  The top two teams in the group will advance to the elite round.

After the game, the Macedonian manager said he was pleased with the result but not with the play of some players who did not follow the tactics.  He was disappointed, especially since the team has been training for seven days, so he hopes that will be fixed in time for the Scotland game.  Petreski also said the bad conditions of the pitch in Turnovo slowed down both teams..

Lineup for Macedonia: Iliev, Saiti (36′ Markoski, from 54′ Ziberi due to injury to Markoski), Trajkovik, Spirkovski (52′ Zlatanov), Zajkov (c), Sulejmani, Imeri, Velkovski, Babunski, Avramovski, Naumovski.