Euro 2012 within reach after another Armenia victory

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Friday October 07, 2011

Fans celebrate Armenia's dominance of Macedonia. Photolur

Armenia celebrates opening goal against Macedonia . Photolur

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Washington - Armenia footballers beat Macedonia in decisive fashion leaving the remaining qualification away match against Ireland on October 11 a make-or-break contest for both teams seeking to play in the European championship next year.

The game began with seesaw action with Armenia cautious on attack and Macedonia keeping the ball better in the first twenty minutes. But Yura Movsisyan's uncompromising performance proved decisive yet again.

On 29th minute Movsisyan tore through the Macedonian flank putting Marcos Pizzelli in a goal-scoring position and Pizzelli capitalized. Armenia made it 2:0 with Henrik Mkhitaryan's trademark long shot on 34th minute. Mkhitaryan had two more scoring opportunities but he missed one and shot another into the Macedonian goalkeeper.

After the break Armenia continued the pressure, but Macedonia held steady until another one of Movsisyan's righ flank breakthroughs resulted in a long pass to Gevorg Ghazaryan who made it 3:0 on 69th minute from close range.

With Movsisyan himself missing at least two more scoring opportunities and Armenia showing signs of relaxation, Macedonia pushed back towards the end of the game capitalizing with a Vanche Shikov header from a corner kick on 86th minute.

But in added time yet another Movsisyan pass put Artur Sarkisov in front of the goal and Sarkisov beat the Macedonian goalkeeper making the final score 4:1.

Armenia now has 17 points with one game left to play in Dublin. Armenia must win that match to earn the second spot in Group B.

In other group action Slovakia lost to Russia 0:1 and Ireland topped Andorra by two goals. These results leave Russia on verge of winning the top spot in the group and automatic qualification with their remaining game at home against Andorra.

Second spot comes down to the outcome of Ireland-Armenia match, where a tie is sufficient for the Irish and only victory good enough for Armenia.

The October 11 match pits Armenia's spectacular scoring ability against Ireland's formidable defense. The Irish have allowed no goals in their last four qualification games, while themselves scoring four - two to Macedonia and two to Andorra, with Russia and Slovakia held to scoreless draws. For its part in the last four matches, Armenia scored 12 goals, while allowing four.

Should Armenia win in Dublin they would then face a fellow second place finisher from another qualification group for play-off matches. Some of these potential second place finishers include Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Serbia, Sweden and Turkey.

Standings in Group B following October 7 games:

Team                Games Points Wins Draws Losses Goals For / Against

1. Russia          9         20        5          2          1          11        /         4

2. Ireland          9         18       5          3          1           13        /         6 

3. Armenia        9          17        5          2          2          21        /         8  

4. Slovakia        9          14       4          2         3            6          /         9

5. Macedonia    9           7           2          1          6          7          /       13

6. Andorra        9           0           0          0          8          1          /       19