Armenia avoid basement finish
Wednesday, 12 October 2005
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian <asbed@usc.edu>
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Armenia avoided finishing bottom of FIFA World Cup
qualifying Group 1 as they gained a comfortable
victory in Andorra.

Armenia dominate
Andorra’s best campaign to date, which had included a
first ever competitive win against F.Y.R. Macedonia,
had brought them five points, and they needed only a
draw today to avoid finishing last. But Armenia, who
won the home fixture 2-1, had other ideas and Romik
Khachatryan and Karen Aleksanyan dominated in midfield
against a defensive home formation.

Own goal
The visitors were attacking down the wings, and
Khachatryan fired a shot across goal before Valeri
Aleksanyan went close following a corner. With six
minutes left in the first half Armenia struck, Egishe
Melikyan crossing from the left and the luckless Óscar
Sonejee turning the ball into his own net.

Lead doubled
Before half-time Andorra were down to ten men,
Ildefons Lima dismissed for dissent. With an extra
player Armenia tightened their grip on the game and
Ara Hakobyan had a shot saved before his brother Aram
made it 2-0, converting Hamlet Mkhitaryan’s cross on
the half-volley in the 52nd minute.

Victory sealed
Ara Hakobyan got on the scoresheet ten minutes later
with a good run and shot from the edge of the area.
Armenia did not add to their lead despite some
intricate moves, but ended their campaign on a high as
both countries now look towards the UEFA EURO 2008′
draw on 27 January 2006.