The young Macedonians collected three points as they demolished Kazakhstan on the road.
photo by KFF: Darko Churlinov (R) fights for the ball
Coach Blagoja Milevski had problems as some players were not available, so the starting line up had some changes compared to the last games. Jankov was on goal, Todoroski, Lichina, captain Rufati and Antovski in defense, Zdravkovski and Atanasov in defensive midfield, Mitrovski in front of them as an attacking midfielder, Daci and Churlinov on the wings, while Gjorgjievski played as the lone striker.
Macedonia had control from the first minute, but was not able to create quality chances. Instead it was Stuttgart played Churlinov who opened the score with an individual action in the 38th minute. A stunning goal as he dribbled past some players and then fired a shot from outside the box. Now it was easier and just three minutes later Mitrovski was fouled in the box. Atanasov missed the penalty, but scored on the rebound.
The second half started like the first ended: good for Macedonia. Churlinov netted again in the 48th minute with a left-footed shot after a run on the left wing before he received a pass by Atanasov. Trouble came for some minutes when the hosts equalized in the 52nd minute and also had a penalty three minutes later after a foul by Rufati. Luckily, Jankov denied the penalty kick. A Kazakhstan player netted on the rebound of that block, but it wasn’t counted as a goal because this player moved inside the box to early.
Now Macedonia had again control over the game and secured everything with Mitrovski’s goal in the 67th minute. Churlinov had a nice assist on that goal as he lobbed the ball over the defense to find his teammate. Meanwhile, during the second half Miovski, Toshevski, Grozdanovski, Ackovski and Fazliu were introduced.
Highlights:
In the end a deserved win for Macedonian U21. The next game is against Israel and our team is still in the race for a place on the next U21 EEURO.