The Macedonia national team, taking part in UEFA’s development tournament for under-16 players, was defeated 2:0 by Uzbekistan in its second appearance in Strumica.
Unlike in the first match against Northern Ireland, head coach Iljami Isejni made several changes to the starting lineup and gave an opportunity to players who, two days ago, started the match on the substitutes’ bench.
Uzbekistan took the lead in the 39th minute through Beruzbek Samatov.
In the penultimate minute of the first half, Aleksandar Polimac had a chance to equalise, but his effort was saved by goalkeeper Almaz Ayupov, who also reacted brilliantly in the 58th minute following Adrian Veleski’s header.
In the remainder of the match, Macedonia had two more chances to equalise. In the 71st minute, Matej Bocheski shot, but Ayupov saved, while five minutes before the end of the match, Stefan Ristic’s effort went wide.
Ruzimurodzhon Ruzimurodov set the final score in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
In the final round, Macedonia will face Turkey, who were defeated 3:2 by Northern Ireland today.
The match is scheduled for Monday and will be played at the Goran Pandev training centre.
MACEDONIA: Dimitar Petrov, Filip Gjorgjioski (Matej Bocheski 60), Mihajlo Pavlov (Ilija Aksentiev 79), Mateja Masev (Džihan Ibrahim 79), Aleksandar Polimac (Mitko Stojanov 60), Dardan Ademi (Pavel Stojanov 60), Stefan Ristic, Marin Krstevski (Efe Raifi 60) (Osman Ismaili 73), Ognen Sivevski (Ardi Bajrami 60), Adrian Veleski (Dalibor Markovic 60), Blagoja Sedloski (Mario Stojcevski 46).
