Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Albania - Macedonia 0:1
Good first half, but awful second half
Macedonia won the friendly match away to Albania as Stevica Ristic made great use out of his 1st appearance for the MKD national side by scoring the winning goal. The Macedonian striker netted the only goal in this friendly, leaving the Croatian chief at helm of the “Black Eagles” Otto Baric to witness his team's struggle for an equalizer resulting in nothing but missed chances and a defeat.Solid performance in the first half
Macedonians started the first half with attacking formation and it wasn't a big surprise to see them dominating the pitch during that period. The striking duo Naumoski-Ristic, supported by Pandev had many chances and it was in the 33rd minute that the crucial moment of the match took place. Stevica Ristic got in the chance and really used it well by signing in the score-sheet after being picked up by Pandev's assist in a counter attack operation . The Macedonian international with Serb roots had another good chance as the game continued, but his effort same as Pandev's free kick and then Noveski's shot that even shook the woodwork didn't bring any changes on the score board. During this period the Albanian team struggled with the organization of their game and the Black Eagles had almost no serious chances to jeopardize Nikoloski at the Macedonian goal.
Awful second half
Considering this match was only a friendly, Srecko Katanec used it for testing all his players. That's why he given an opportunity to Polozhani, Tasevski, Pacovski, Maznov and Jancevski at the beginning of the second period. However those substitutions, when Pandev, Naumoski, Ristic, Shumulikoski and Nikolovski left the pitch, were a crucial fact why the performance of the Macedonians gone downwards. The newly entered players struggled to hold to the ball and organize some offensive actions, leaving the pitch completely to their opponent's domination. The Albanians on the other side, have made a very good impression in the second half, managing to create many good chances to score. However the goalkeepers on both ends were the "ones to take the blame" for the low amount of goals at this game because they made some excellent saves.
Srecko Katanec sent off
The awful refereeing by the Italian referee Bertini also marked this match. He made many mistakes, especially against the Macedonians. That's why the Slovenian coach at Macedonian post, Srecko Katanec was complaining all the time and in the 83rd minute the Ref showed him the red card and the former Slovenian National Side chief had to leave the pitch.
Albania - Macedonia 0:1 (0:1)
Goals: Stevica Ristic 33'
Macedonia:
Nikoloski(45' Pacovski) - Noveski, Sedloski, Mitreski - Lazarevski, A.Mitreski, Shumulikoski(73' Jancevski), Grozdanovski - Pandev(45' Polozhani) - Ristic(61' Maznov), Naumoski(45' Tasevski)
Labels: Macedonian National Team
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Guys great news i found highlights of the game, here is the website:
http://www.futbolli.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2303
Just scroll down a bit, the only thing is that the commentary is in albanian