The Mirror, UK
July 14, 2005, Thursday

FOOTBALL: ARMENIA

BY JACK ROSE

TOP MAN: Manucharyan

COACH Samvel Petrosyan has taken most of the plaudits for leading
Armenia to the country’s first international tournament.

Petrosyan, who was assistant coach to the senior side in the 1990s,
and his side secured qualification to the U19 championships with wins
over Belgium (1-0) and Hungary (5-1).

They also drew 0-0 with Italy in the Elite Qualifying phase, but were
beaten by this month’s final group opponents France in the first
qualifying round.

Armenian Football Federation President Ruben Hayrapetyan said:
“Petrosyan is a very good coach who is capable of building a real
team out of two dozen individual young players.

“His work rate and doaching skills have brought us excellent results
so far.”

They may start as underdogs in the group, but Armenia can call upon
several highly-rated players who have also featured for the senior
international side.

Striker Edgar Manucharyan, who has been snapped up by Ajax, has
played for the senior set-up, as has goalkeeper Edel Bete.

Artur Stepanyan and Gurgen Melisketyan ply their trade outside
Armenia at FC Sokol Seratov and Lokomotiv Moscow respectively.

Carl Lombe is expected to play a major role in midfield.

THE SQUAD

GOALKEEPERS
————–
Edel Bete

Edgar Gasparyan

DEFENDERS
————–
Robert Arzumanyan

Aghvan Hayrapetyan

Gurgen Melisketyan

Mikheil Simonyan

Artur Stepanyan

MIDFIELDERS
—————
Mkhitar Grigoryan

Zhora Hovhannisyan

Edgar Kakosyan

Carl Lombe

Artak Oseyan

Aleksandr Petrosyan

Rafayel Safaryan

Suren Sargsyan

STRIKERS
—————
Edgar Manucharyan

Gevorg Nranyan

Khoren Veranyan

*Provisional Squad

A Fact

ATTACK

MIDFIELDER Zhora Hovhannisyan is the son of former Soviet Union great
Khorean Hovhannisyan who is now President of FC Pyunik

ONE TO WATCH

EDGAR MANUCHARYAN (AFC AJAX))

The highly-rated striker joins Dutch giants Ajax from FC Pyunik this
summer. The young prodigy – who has also played for the senior
Armenia side – has scored eight goals in qualifying, including five
goals in a 5-1 win over Hungary.

MEET THE MANAGER

SAMVEL PETROSYAN – a former wing-back with FC Ararat Yerevan – has a
wealth of experience after starting his coaching career at FC Tsement
in 1992. He has also coached at FC MIKA and FC Yerevan. He was an
assistant to the senior Armenian side in 1992 and has coached the
U21s and U19s.