Macedonia played another 1:1 draw, this time at home against group favorites Belgium.
photo by FFM: Alioski celebrates the equalizer
Coach Blagoja Milevski opted for Stole Dimitrievski between the post, who for the first time wore the number 23 instead of 1, in the back line Ezgjan Alioski and Bojan Ilievski in the lateral positions, Visar Misliu and Gjoko Zajkov as central defenders, in the midfield Jani Atanasov and debut appearance for Andrej Stojchevski, Elif Elmas and Tihomir Kostadinov down the flanks with Enis Bardhi as trequartista and Bojan Miovski up front.
Belgium took the possession right from the start, something that was expected. The Lynx were trying only on counter attack. In the 22nd minute Saelemaekers fired from 23 meters but Dimitrievski well saved. Two minutes later Bardhi had a shot but Sels saved.
In the 27th minute Macedonia should have taken the lead. Elmas got a ball before the box from left, fired, beat Sels, but hit the right post. The ball rebounded left top Alioski who on empty net hit the left post.
Right after that colossal miss Belgium broke the dead lock. Lukaku got a ball inside the box, seemed offside but it wasn’t, missed, but De Cuyper on the rebound easily scored, showing Alioski how it’s done.
Until the break only one chance happened when Bardhi had a free kick from a good position, but he hit the wall.
At half-time Milevski changed booked Atanasov with Agon Elezi. Just three minutes after the break Kostadinov run towards the visiting goal, passed left for Elmas who fire outside the box and scored. The stadium erupted, but VAR disallowed the goal as the ball hit Ilievski on its path, who was offside.
In the 70th minute Raskin hit the right post, while Dimitrievski saved De Winter’s shot on rebound.
It seemed like Macedonia could not find an equalizer when four minutes from time Churlinov from the left chipped the ball to Alioski, who with a jump kick scored a beautiful goal!
Highlights:
Macedonia definitely did not deserve to lose this match and eventually was rewarded with a point at the end.