Darko Velkovski once again scored the lone goal for Macedonia for a 1:0 halftime lead, but Norway came storming back in the 2nd half with three unanswered goals on their way to a 1:3 road victory.
Manager Boban Babunski made three changes to the lineup that faced Azerbaijan U21 four days earlier. Deni Iliev came in for Stole Dimitrievski at keeper, Gjoko Zajkov got the nod over Hristijan Dragarski at one of the CB positions, while Darko Velkovski, who came off the bench to score the only goal for Macedonia in the 1:0 win over Azerbaijan, was given a start in midfield instead of Martin Blazhevski.
The tempo in the opening half was rather slow as both teams exchanged possession back and forth but seemed to be lacking much ideas up front. The first big chance did not come until the 33rd minute when Aleksandar Trajkovski’s header was well saved by the Norway keeper. The chance came following a corner kick from the right and the outstretched save to deny Trajkovski led to another corner. In the 35th minute, Dorian Babunski showed good speed to get past his marker before firing a shot that was saved by the visiting keeper, once again resulting in a corner.
The opening goal finally came just before halftime in the 45th minute when Darko Velkovski gathered the ball just outside of the area and slotted a well placed shot to the back of the net. It was Velkovski’s second goal in two games, both coming on shots from outside of the area.
Despite the timing of the goal and what should have been momentum, Macedonia appeared lackadaisical coming out of the halftime break and conceded a quick equalizer in the 47th minute. Worse was yet to come as in the 53rd minute Ezgjan Alioski was whistled for a foul inside the area, leading to a penalty for Norway. Valon Berisha took the spot kick and managed to get it just past Iliev who had guessed right to dive to his right. Norway added a third goal in the 71st minute through Håvard Nielsen to make it 1:3. Trajkovski had a great opportunity to reduce the deficit in the 86th minute, but his finishing let him down and he saw his effort saved by the visiting keeper.
This was a very disappointing loss. Norway was a beatable opponent who had lost its previous game 1:3 at home against Azerbaijan. As a matter of fact, heading into this game, Norway had the worst goal difference of any team in Group 8 at -10. Now, from its six games, Norway has two wins and four losses, both wins coming at the expense of Macedonia (they won the first meeting 2:1).
The schedule only gets tougher for Macedonia as they concluded its two games apiece against Azerbaijan and Norway. What follows is two games against both Portugal and Israel, considered the two best teams in the group. Macedonia first plays a back to back against Portugal on 5 March and 23 May of next year before then playing a back to back against Israel on 13 August and 9 September.
National Arena Philip II of Macedon in Skopje
Referee: Clayton Pisani (Malta)
Goalscorers: 45′ Darko Velkovski (M) – 47′ Elbasan Rashani, 54′ (pen) Valon Berisha, 71′ Håvard Nielsen (N)
Yellow cards: David Babunski (M)
Macedonia: Iliev; Ristovski, Zajkov, Najdoski, Alioski; Velkovski, Micevski (73′ Markoski); Nikolov (58′ Zuta), Da. Babunski, Trajkovski; Do. Babunski (81′ Bojku).
Norway: Rossbach, Skaasheim, Bjørnbakk, Valsvik, Grøgaard, Ulvestad (85′ Berntsen), Berisha, Jensen (69′ Svensson), Elyounoussi, Nielsen, Rashani (90′ Jonassen).