Macedonia U17 started the qualifying tournament with a 2:2 draw against Hungary, in a match in which they came back from a deficit twice and showed great character in the fight for a place among the two best teams in the group.
The Hungarians were the first to take the lead in the 23rd minute through Noel Polonkai, but our young national team players did not give up. By the end of the first half, after a mix-up in the penalty area, Jakov Stojkovski did the best and sent the ball into the empty net for 1:1.
At the beginning of the second half, Hungary's captain, Levente Boszse, with a precise free kick brought his team back into the lead. However, Vlatko Kolev's team showed character and equalized again in the 67th minute. Islamović made a great assist with an attractive pass to Martin Džangarovski, who calmly converted for a final 2:2.
In the second round, on Saturday, Macedonia will meet the Czech Republic, which convincingly defeated Gibraltar 13:0 in the first match.
Macedonia: Amin Sulovic, Nikola Mitev, Marko Ivanov, Gregorian Mihajlovski, Filip Cvetkovski, Blendi Ljacka, Andrej Cvetkovski, Martin Dzhangarovski, Vasko Papaliski (Luka Knezevic 63'), Jakov Stojkovski (Erdin Mamuti 90'), Fadil Islamovic (Mihail Mitrevski 90').
