Makedonija 3 - 1 Česká republika (202479549)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 111000 at Gradski Stadion-Stip today. Swen Wohlgensinger was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Milán Bíró and Decebal-Traian Dogaru. A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for U-20 Makedonija. They fielded: Shumkovski - Bardulla, Kupi, Borutovski - Potoku, Trajkovski, Milenkoski, Bozinovski - Prishtina, Mickoski, Konçi.

U-20 Česká republika started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Flégr - Hýsek, Popp, Šneberger - Rončka, Botur, Chrudimský, Melichar, Marx - Dušek, Valkoun.

U-20 Makedonija seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. They were singing the praises of B. Trajkovski 13 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 1 - 0 to U-20 Makedonija. After 16 minutes U-20 Makedonija's P. Bardulla limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. The visitors almost came back with an equaliser 22 minutes into the match after a good combination down the middle, but when M. Hýsek tried to finish the attack, he couldn't deliver the shot hard enough to seriously challenge the keeper. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. B. Trajkovski squirmed through their central defence after 28 minutes, increasing the lead to 2 - 0. 32 minutes into the game, J. Dušek had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came M. Vysoký. 2 - 0 was the score after the first half. U-20 Makedonija enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 51 percent of possession.

U-20 Makedonija solidified their lead at the 56 minute mark, as L. Konçi dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 3 - 0. Z. Prishtina unleashed a swerving effort from the right that the visitors' keeper did well to tip wide. U-20 Makedonija's D. Mickoski saw his fine effort strike the top of the bar following some good work up the middle by his teammates after 80 minutes. U-20 Makedonija had to make a substitution after 82 minutes. F. Milenkoski limped off the field and was replaced by P. Ezaroski. U-20 Česká republika fought on and, after 83 minutes, D. Popp was able to reduce the deficit to 3 - 1 after some excellent moves on the right side were finished off with an incredibly clever chip. P. Bardulla should probably have put his team up another goal after 86 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by Z. Flégr kept the visitors in the game. U-20 Makedonija enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 54 percent of possession.

The most dominating U-20 Makedonija player was without a doubt Z. Shumkovski. N. Kupi on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating U-20 Česká republika player was without a doubt J. Melichar. D. Popp turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 3 - 1.