UEFA.com
Aug 18 2004
Pandev ensures perfect start
Wednesday, 18 August 2004
By Igor Panevski
Goals from Goran Pandev, Artim Sakiri and Velice Sumulikoski earned
F.Y.R. Macedonia a 3-0 victory against Armenia in Skopje in 2006 FIFA
World Cup qualifying Group 1.
Strong section
The victory will leave the Macedonians in good heart for their next
qualifying test, a trip to Romania, 2-1 winners against Finland this
evening, on 4 September. Armenia, meanwhile, will hope for better
fortunes at home to the Finns four days later, with the Netherlands
and the Czech Republic – both semi-final losers at UEFA EURO 2004′ –
joined by Andorra to complete the lineup.
Early advantage
S.S. Lazio forward Pandev struck first for the home side at the
Gradski stadium – home of FK Pelister – opeing the scoring with a
fine shot from 16 metres. The forward might have doubled his side’s
lead midway through the first half when he found himself unmarked in
front of Armenian goalkeeper Armen Ambartsumyan but defender Marotyan
Vardanyan recovered well to clear.
Sakiri strikes
With the home side threatening on the counterattack throughout the
first 90 minutes, it was no surprise that such a source lead to a
second goal seven minutes before half-time. This time two Macedonian
players were left with time and space in front of Ambartsumyan’s goal
and Sumulikoski unselfishly squad for Sakiri to roll in.
Ambartsumyan stops
It was nearly 3-0 in the final minutes of the half as Pandev met
Aleksandar Mitrevski’s cross with a powerful header but this time
Ambartsumyan was equal to it. The Armenian goalkeeper then denied the
same player ten minutes after the restart, and also kept out Sakiri’s
close-range header two minutes past the hour.
Decisive moment
The visitors almost found a way back into the match a minute later,
but Andrey Movsesyan’s fine close-range volley struck an upright and
Armenian hopes were effectively ended with 21 minutes left as captain
Marotyan Vardanyan was dismissed for a professional foul on Pandev.
First goal
The points were duly secured in the final minute as another fine
counterattack was clinically rounded off by Sumulikoski from Igor
Jancevski’s pass, his first goal for his country.
Kanatlarovski cheer
“I want to thanks to my players for a good game,” said F.Y.R.
Macedonia coach Dragan Kanatlarovski. “We deserved to win, although I
knew that would be a hard game, but we had several chances to score
one or two goals more. It’s important to earn a victory in the first
match in qualification.”
‘Expected result’
His counterpart Bernard Casoni was more downbeat, saying: “It was the
expected result for us, as we were missing several players. F.Y.R.
Macedonia are a good team and they deserved to win. They scored early
and after the second we knew that we would lose.”