Today in the big final of the 31st edition of the Macedonian Cup the precious trophy was claimed by Makedonija GjP who defeated Struga after penalties.
photo by FFM: the Lions celebrate winning the Cup
Holders Makedonija GjP faced the newly crowned league champions Struga in a final played at FFM’s Petar Miloshevski training center in Skopje, after the final was moved from the first scheduled location in Strumica.
The opening half saw very small number of chances. Both teams very fighting hard which resulted into little attacks. In the 27th minute Jovan Popzlatanov got a cleared ball after a corner kick, fired a shot and hit Valentin Kochoski in the hand. Referee Igor Stojchevski immediately showed his hand towards the spot. Captain Filip Mishevski took the ball and sent it in center of the goal, while Bosnian keeper Vedran Kjosevski went left – 1:0 for Macedonija GjP. That was everything that happened in the first half as the Lions kept a good defensive play denying Struga a way towards their goal. In the 33rd minute Serbian coach Goran Simov was forced to make a change after experienced defensive midfielder Dragan Stojkov got injured and could not continue.
After the break the match changed a bit as several chances were created. The 77th minute was underway when Medjit Neziri from the right served Serbian central back Sava Radić who from couple of meters headed the ball only for Stevkovski to make a good save. The ball got back in play and Fatjon Jusufi on the left hit it hard in the net equalizing the score. Right after the goal strong wind and rain hit the location of the final. For few minutes it was impossible for both teams to play, but the match was not interrupted. Luckily the bad weather lasted only few minutes. No more goals were scored so fourth final a row went into extra time.
Medjit Neziri and Arbi Vosha; photo: FFM
In the 103rd minute Ivorian international Adama Samake had a good shot for the Lions, but Kjosevski well saved. Then Struga had couple of chances, but without good finishing. The extra time did not bring changes to the result, so another cup final went into penalty shoot-outs. It is the fourth final in a row to be decided on penalties, while the 10th overall.
The penalties were pretty much unusual as there were more misses then goals. Tairi missed the target for Struga, but then Kjosevski saved Mishevski shot. Radeski hit the crossbar, while Lichina scored to bring Makedonija GjP the lead. Neziri copied Radeski’s penalty and also hit the crossbar, but Kjosevski once again kept Struga alive after saving Aleksovski bad shot. Captain Shabani had to score in the 4th series, but Stevkovski caught his shot, while Skenderi converted his penalty to seal the win.
It is the 3rd cup title for the Lions from the Gjorche Petrov neighborhood, while Struga suffered the first defeat in their debut final appearance. This means that Makedonija GjP qualified for the Europa Conference League this summer where as Cup winners they will start from the 2nd qualifying round. Top flight 4th-placed Sileks missed international qualification as they hoped that Struga would win.