Macedonia U17 suffered a minimal loss against their counterparts from Scotland who scored the lone goal in the 65th minute.

Both teams failed to create quality chances in the 1st half as there were numerous stoppages for fouls and there was no rhythm between the two teams.  The Macedonian manager, Goran Petreski, only made two changes to the starting lineup from the previous game against Turkey.  Muhamed Zebiri started for Enis Saiti who was on the bench while Filip Zlatanov started for the suspended Jordan Naumovski who picked up a red card in the previous game.

In the 2nd half, there were more chances and Scotland came close to scoring in the first minute after the break but the header by Charles Telfer went just wide of the goal.  Macedonia’s first real opportunity of the game came in the 63rd minute when captain Gjoko Zajkov hit the post with a header following a corner kick.  Both teams were evenly matched but Scotland then took the lead in the 65th minute.  Jamie Lindsay controlled a cross from the right before firing a shot past Macedonian keeper Deni Iliev.

Macedonia pushed forward with the hopes of scoring the equalizer but they could not beat the Scottish keeper.  There were two chances but the shot by Daniel Avramovski in the 75th minute when just wide of the left goal post while in the third minute of stoppage time, Demir Imeri attempted a shot from distance but the Scottish keeper saved the shot and the ball was then cleared out of danger.

A draw would have been a fair result but Scotland capitalized on one occasion while Macedonia missed on a couple of dangerous chances in the 2nd half.  In the other match of Group 3, Turkey defeated San Marino 2:0.  Therefore, Macedonia is now in third place with 1 point.  Scotland tops the group with 6 points, Turkey is next with 4, Macedonia has 1, while San Marino is still without a point.

The last game for Macedonia U17 is on Saturday when they face San Marino.  Macedonia will need to win against San Marino and hope Scotland beats Turkey in the other game.  In that scenario, goal difference will count so it will be imperative to score several goals on San Marino.  However, if Scotland and Turkey draw on Saturday, then Macedonia will have no chance of finishing in the top two.

Lineup for Macedonia: Iliev, Trajkovik, Spirkovski (51′ Zairi), Zajkov (c), Sulejmani (75′ Mustafa), Imeri, Velkovski, Babunski, Avramovski, Zlatanov (48′ Stojanov), Ziberi.

The table after two rounds:

Team	MP	W	D	L	GD	P
Scotland	2	2	0	0	4:0	6
Turkey	2	1	1	0	3:1	4
Macedonia	2	0	1	1	1:2	1
San Marino	2	0	0	2	0:5	0