U19: Macedonia loses first game to England

The start of the U19 qualifications saw Macedonia lose 2:0 to England on a flooded pitch that had a big impact on the game.

A bad start to the EURO qualifiers for the Macedonian U19 national team. The squad faced a tough task in the opening game as they had to play England. The visitors were the better team throughout the entire match, but the young Macedonians fought well against a superior opponent.

It must be mentioned that the pitch conditions were hard since it was raining the whole day in Skopje, so England probably felt like they were playing back home. Macedonia managed to hold the score goalless in the first half, but England eventually broke through in the 67th minute when Tammy Abraham’s cross found Adam Armstrong who put the ball between the legs of the Macedonian keeper. The second goal was scored deep into stoppage time when Ainsley Maitland-Niles struck the post with his header, but the ball then bounced off keeper Bobi Celeski for an own goal.

England takes a corner kick

In the other game of the group, Italy and Finland shared the points in an 1:1 draw. On Saturday, Macedonia faces Italy, while England meets Finland.

Petar Miloshevski training center in Skopje
England U19 – Macedonia U19 2:0 (0:0)
Goals: 67′ Adam Armstrong, 90’+4 (og) Bobi Celeski
England: Freddie Woodman; Callum Connolly, Taylor Moore, Jake Clarke-Salter (C), Kyle Walker-Peters; Jordan Rossiter, Joshua Onomah, Daniel Crowley (74′ Ainsley Maitland-Niles); Patrick Roberts (71′ Oluwaseyi Ojo), Adam Armstrong (71′ Dominic Solanke), Tammy Abraham.
Macedonia: Bobi Celeski; Sabahudin Alomerovikj, Stefan Jevtoski, Nehar Sadiki, Slobodan Bocevski; Remzifaik Selmani (57′ Martin Hristov), Davor Zdravkovski, Stefan Lazarevikj, Emil Abaz; Valentin Kochoski (65′ Burim Avdulahi), Petar Petkovski (C) (81′ Matej Cvetanoski).
Yellow cards: Connolly, Roberts, Rossiter (E), Lazarevikj, Abaz (M)
Red cards: /
Referee: Mete Kalkavan (Turkey)
Assistants: Kemal Yilmaz (Turkey), Karel De Rocker (Belgium)
Fourth official: Nicolas Laforge (Belgium)

The table after Round 1:

Group 4 MP W D L GD P
England England 1 1 0 0 2:0 3
Finland Finland 1 0 1 0 1:1 1
Italy Italy 1 0 1 0 1:1 1
Macedonia Macedonia 1 0 0 1 0:2 0

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