YEREVAN – Armenia’s national soccer team continues to perform exceptionally well in the world 2022 tournament qualifying games. Today, on March 31, Armenia’s soccer players scored their third success in a row, gaining a hard victory against Romania. The match took place in Yerevan.
The guests put extensive pressure on Armenia’s defense from the very start of the game and could have hit a goal already in the 9th minute. However, Armenia’s goal-keeper David Yurhchenko saved the moment. The Armenians gradually leveled the game. The first half ended with no goals; the teams went to the 15-minute break with 0 : 0 figures on the scoreboard of the Republican Stadium.
The second half commenced with three substitutions: Sarkis Adamian, Zhirayr Shagoyan, and Edward Spertsian. Attacking midfield Spertsian’s first appearance in our team turned into a success story: at the 56th minute, he defeated Romania’s goals. After Armenia took the lead, the guests’ offensives became more intense: Romania’s Alexandru Cicaldau first leveled the game (62m), then doubled the score (72m). Romania was leading for about 15 minutes.
However, during this time, they remained with ten players against Armenia’s 11, as George Puskas received a red card and had to quit the game on the 78th minute. On the 87th minute, Tigran Barsegian passed the ball to Varazdan Haroyan, who was right in front of Romania’s goal. Haroyan did not miss the chance. So did Barsegian himself; two minutes later, he scored the final goal from the 11-meter (12 yards) penalty spot. With 3:2 victory, Armenia is once again leading group J of the World Cup qualifying games. The final playoff games will take place in 2022 in Qatar.
Four-time world champion Germany is surprisingly losing to the Northern Macedonia’s team at this moment. If Germany does not win – Armenia will remain on the top of its group. In the next match, Armenia will play against Northern Macedonia in FYROM on September 2.
