Macedonian opened the third season of the UEFA Nations league with a draw away to neighboring Bulgarian in a match in which despite having more of the play our team simply was indisposed in the attack.
photo by FFM: Milan Ristovski during the game
Coach Blagoja Milevski started with Stole Dimitrievski between the posts, Ezgjan Alioski and Stefan Ashkovski on the left and right defensive wings, Visar Musliu and Darko Velkovski as central defenders, Elif Elmas, Stefan Spirovski and Enis Bardhi in the midfield, while Aleksandar Trajkovski and Darko Churlinov on the attacking sides with Milan Ristovski up front.
photo by FFM
The match started with Macedonia having the possession, but never created a good chance. In the 13th minute Bulgaria went in a attack that seemed not dangerous, but Nedelev beautifully served Hristov who went pass Velkovski and Ashkovski and put the ball behind Dimitrievski.
The first shot on target for Macedonia came in the 21 minute when Elmas’ back heel pass found Bardhi who fired a shot directly at Mihaylov’s face. There was a few minutes break at the home keeper was lying on the ground due to the hard hit at his chin. Five minutes later he denied Ashkovski from scoring. Untill the break Spirovski and Elmas also tried, but both missed the target.
In the opening half Macedonia despite having the ball much more, was not dangerous in before the home box. Elmas and Bardhi were pretty selfish, and on few occasions instead of trying to take a shot they wanted to penetrate deep into the box.
On half-time Milevski put David Babunski and Miovski instead of Churlinov and Trajkovski. Putting David proved to be a great move as he brought freshnes in our game and inspired the others to be more active.
Three minutes into the second half and Ristovski was denied by Mihaylov. In the 50th minute Ristovski scored past Mihaylov after Chochev’s clearance hit Elmas, then the ball hit Turitsov, got in front of Ristovski who scored. VAR was checking that goal and it was confirmed – 1:1.
That goal brought back the spirits between the Macedonians. Right after the equalizer Elmas missed, later Bardhi also missed the target, while Alioski put on a great shot that was well saved by Mihaylov.
Macedonia was more active in the rest of the match, but simply could not create a serious chance. Nikolov and Dorian Babunski also came in, while Ristevski later substituted Velkovski who had muscle problems. This was a debut appearance for Dorian.
In the 4th minute of the stoppage time Musliu blocked a shot by M. Minchev and the French referee showed on the spot as he thought that Musliu played with hand. After watching the replay on the screen, it showed that Musliu did play with hand, but his hand was glued to his body. So Bulgaria did not get a last minute penalty kick.
The disappointing match for both sides ended 1:1. In the other match Georgia as expected defeated Gibraltar with 4:0.
Highlights:
Facts regarding the match:
- 55th appearance for Stole Dimitrievski and Kire Ristevski
- 50th appearance for Stefan Spirovski
- 45th appearance for Enis Bardhi
- 15th appearance for Darko Churlinov
- 10th appearance for David Babunski
- 8th match between Macedonia and Bulgaria, 2nd draw
- 5 years, 2 months and 10 days have passed since David Babunski last played a NT match
- 3rd goal for Milan Ristovski
- 1st appearance for Dorian Babunski