Macedonia’s U20 national team lost 2-3 to Russia in the friendly match played in Skopje. This was the first match for new head coach Aleksandar Tanevski, who previously led the U20 team.
Macedonia made the better start to the match and created several good opportunities in the opening period through Mehmed, Maslarov and Manojlov. However, Russia were the first to take the lead.
In the 36th minute, the visitors were awarded a penalty, and Okishor made no mistake from the spot to make it 0-1. The score remained unchanged until half-time.
Russia increased their advantage in the 57th minute, again from the penalty spot. This time, Bober was accurate to make it 0-2.
Macedonia continued to fight and managed to reduce the deficit in the 79th minute. Tashovski took responsibility and scored from the spot to make it 1-2.
Just two minutes later, Russia scored again. Akhmedov was accurate to make it 1-3 and once again move Macedonia further away from a positive result.
In the closing stages, Macedonia managed to find the net once more. Tashovski converted another penalty in the 90th minute and, with his second goal, set the final score at 2-3.
The match produced an interesting statistic: four of the five goals were scored from penalties.
Goalkeeper Vrgov also stood out for Macedonia, making several excellent saves to prevent Russia from securing a more convincing victory.
Macedonia played with: Vrgov, Radeski, Velkov, Murati, Atanasovski, Shabotiq, Maslarov, Hodza, Manojlov, Dzhangarovski, Mehmed.
Also played: Mitrev, Tanchev, Dimovski, Trpevski, Arifi, Tashev, Tashovski.
