Macedonia U17 suffered a 3:2 defeat on Tuesday and two days later won with the same score. That is the outcome of the two road friendlies against Cyprus.
The first friendly took place on Tuesday and involved three lead changes with Cyprus U17 eventually coming out on top by winning 3:2. Two of the goals, first and last, came on converted penalty kicks for the hosts. Trailing 1:0, Macedonia U17 equalized just before the half through Jani Atanasov who scored a beauty directly from a free kick. Atanasov, of course, in the byproduct of Pandev’s academy who transferred to the youth academy of Inter in Italy.
In the 2nd half, Cyprus once again took the lead in the 57th minute, but Macedonia made it 2:2 on another beautiful goal. This time it was Dimitar Mitrovski, a player based in Germany, who fired a long-range shot to the back of the net. That tie only lasted two minutes as Cyprus converted its second penalty in the 79th minute for the 3:2 win.
Makario stadium in Nicosia
Cyprus U17 – Macedonia U17 3:2 (1:1)
Goals: 18′ (pen) Michalis Haralambous, 57′ Loizos Ppounas, 79′ (pen) Nickolas Menelaou – 43′ Jani Atanasov, 77′ Dimitar Mitrovski
Cyprus: Keravno; Papamichail, Adoni (62′ Michailidis), Lazaridis (50′ Loizidis), Ppounas, St. Panteli (41′ K. Konstantinou), Haralambous (62′ Efthimiou), Nestoros (50′ Kitromilidis), P. Panteli (50′ Menelaou), Hatzipaschalis (41′ Roles), Paskias (41′ Dimitriou).
Macedonia: Hristijan Stevkovski; Andrej Kirovski, Antonio Mitrev, Mihail Manevski, Todor Todoroski, Elif Elmas, Jani Atanasov, Jamie Gorgovski, Dimitar Mitrovski, Boban Zdravevski, Kristijan Trapanovski. Also played: Marko Ferukoski, Vasko Trajkov, Borche Laskov, Hristijan Delevski, Filip Jovanovski.
Referee: Dimitris Masias (Cyprus)
Highlights:
The second friendly was played on Thursday. The game ended with the same score of 3:2, but this time for Macedonia. The hosts took an early lead in the very first minute thanks to a goal by Jack Roles. Macedonia would equalize through Dimitar Mitrovski in the 29th minute and then Filip Jovanovski got on the scoresheet just after the break to make it 2:1. Cyprus leveled the match midway through the 2nd half before Jani Atanasov scored the game winner in the 73rd minute. Atanasov and Mitrovski scored one apiece in both friendlies. So, one win and one loss over the two fixtures, each national team celebrating a 3:2 triumph.
Makario stadium in Nicosia
Cyprus U17 – Macedonia U17 2:3 (1:1)
Goals: 1′ Jack Roles, 65′ Christos Hatzipaschalis – 29′ Dimitar Mitrovski, 46′ Filip Jovanovski, 77′ Jani Atanasov
Cyprus: St. Konstantinou; Michailidis, (41′ Papamichail), Adoni (41′ Lazaridis), Dimitriou (60′ St. Panteli), Kitromilidis (41′ Loizidis), Haralambous, K. Konstantinou (60′ Paskias), Roles (49′ Ppounas), Efthimiou (41′ Hatzipaschalis), Nestoros, Menelaou (37′ P. Panteli).
Macedonia: Blagojche Ivanov; Mihail Manevski, Elif Elmas, Andrej Kirovski, Antonio Mitrev, Jamie Gorgovski, Jani Atanasov, Boban Zdravevski, Dimitar Mitrovski, Kiril Ristovski, Marko Ferukoski. Also played: Filip Jovanovski, Kristijan Trapanovski, Filip Stojchevski, Meris Fakikj.