The Macedonian U19 national team suffered a 3:0 defeat in the first friendly match against their counterparts from Albania.

In a match played in Pogradec, Macedonia U19 went down 3:0 against Albania U19. Manager Mario Vujovikj had mainly called up new players for the friendlies against Albania in order to assess their abilities and whether they can help in the future.

Albania opened the scoring early in the 2nd minute and later added another goal to make it 2:0 at halftime. The final score was then set in the 87th minute for the 3:0 final.

Macedonia started the match with the following line-up: Gjurgjev, Ristevski, Simovski, Nikolovski, Terziev, Dobrikj, Ziberi, Krstikj, Demir, Kostadinov, Krezikj.

Also player: Dalipi, Jakimovski, Zajkov, Krivanjeva, Angov, Alomerovikj, Mitkov.

In a statement on FFM’s website, Vujovikj said, “The result is not our main goal during these friendly matches; instead we want to test out as many new players as possible. Of course, no team wants a loss, but we did not play at the required level. We have conceded a goal early, missed two good opportunities later and were defeated. In the second half, we gave chance to the rest of the called up players and although we did improve our play, we failed to score. At the next match in Struga we need to change our approach, be more responsible and try to win.”

The second friendly against Albania takes place two days from now in Struga at 14.00 CET.