FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D5
ASSOCIATED PRESSGoran Pandev sent North
Macedonia to its first major
tournament, scoring the decisive
goal Thursday in a 1-0 victory
over host Georgia in Tbilisi to
secure a spot at next year’s
European Championship.
The 37-year-old Pandev deftly
finished off a neat passing move
through the Georgia defense in
the 56th minute in the single-
game playoff t o decide who ad-
vanced to the postponed Euro
2020 tournament.
The game was perhaps the
biggest in the history of two
young soccer nations, but no fans
were allowed into the 54,000-
seat national stadium because of
coronavirus restrictions in Geor-
gia. At No. 65 in FIFA’s world
rankings, North Macedonia will
be the biggest outsider at Euro
2020 and the second newcomer,
joining Finland.
The playoffs were originally
scheduled for March but were
postponed because of the pan-
demic, which also forced UEFA
to push Euro 2020 into next year.
In the three other playoff
matchups t o complete the 24-na-
tion Euro 2020 lineup, H ungary,
which trailed from the 11th min-
ute to the 88th, scored two late
goals to stun Euro 2016 upstart
Iceland, 2-1, i n Budapest; Slova-
kia got a go al from Michal Duris
in the 110th minute to outlast
Northern Ireland, 2-1, in Belfast;
and Scotland defeated Serbia,
5-4, in Belgrade on penalty kicks
after the Serbs tied the match,
1-1, in the 90th minute.
l WORLD CUP QUALIFY-
ING: Lionel Messi had a g oal
disallowed and another denied
as Argentina was held to a 1-1
draw by Paraguay in Sao Pau-
lo....
Carlos Gruezo scored on a
penalty kick in the 88th minute
to lift Ecuador to a 3-2 victory
over Bolivia in La Paz.
l FRIENDLIES: Harry Magu-ire, Jadon Sancho and Dominic
Calvert-Lewin scored as England
dominated Ireland in a 3 -0 victo-
ry at W embley Stadium....
Kaveh Rezaei and Mehdi
Ghayedi scored second-half
goals as Iran beat Bosnia, 2-0, in
Sarajevo....
Also, host Bahrain beat Leba-
non, 3-1; host United Arab Emir-
ates beat Tajikistan, 3-2; J ordan
played to a scoreless draw with
host Iraq; Syria won at Uzbeki-
stan, 1-0; an d ho st Moldova and
Russia played to a scoreless
draw.Clarke resigns from FIFA
Greg Clarke res igned as a vice
president of FIFA after coming
under pressure from the world
governing body to relinquish the
position for making discrimina-
tory comments.
The Englishman planned to
stay in the $250,000-a-year FIFA
role for a f ew more months
despite being forced to quit as
English Football Association
chairman Tuesday within hours
of making heavily criticized re-
marks on race, sexuality and
gender during a British parlia-
mentary hearing.
l BRAZIL: Neymar was ruled
out of a World Cup qualifier
against Uruguay next week be-
cause of a groin injury he suf-
fered vs. Paris-Saint-Germain in
a Champions League game.
Defender Gabriel Menino test-
ed positive for the coronavirus
and will miss the upcoming
World Cup qualifiers against
Venezuela and Uruguay.
l NWSL: R acing Louisville se-
lected U.S. national team players
Tobin Heath and Christen Press
with its final two picks in the
National Women’s Soccer League
expansion draft. Both players are
playing with Manchester United,
but Heath ’s rights were retained
by the Portland Thorns, while
Press’s rights were retained by
the Utah Royals.
Louisville joins the NWSL
next season to bring the league to
10 teams. It drafted 14 players,
including two Washington Spirit
reserves: goalkeeper Katie Lund
and forward Katie McLure.SOCCER ROUNDUPWith win, N. Macedonia
secures first Euro berth
NORTH MACEDONIA 1,
GEORGIA 0standouts.
With the youth emergence in
Europe, the talent pool has
deepened. It now falls on
Berhalter, a former U.S. defender
and Columbus Crew coach, to
make it work.
Aside from scoring, his plans
worked well in the first half
Thursday. The performance fell
off after intermission. Wales was
more concerned with preparing
for Nations League matches
against Ireland and Finland next
week than with the outcome
against the United States.
The second half featured the
U.S. debuts of French-based
attacker Nicholas Gioacchini, 20,
and two 19-year-olds, Brazilian-
trained Johnny Cardoso and
English-American Owen
Otasowie.
On this cold, windy and rainy
night in Swansea, Wales, the U.S.
priority was getting the
newcomers on the field, resuming
stalled work and fostering unity.
“We enjoyed it. We had fun. In
the past, we didn’t show much
flair ,” McKennie said. “A lot of
guys had fun being out there, and
obviously it would’ve been much
better if we won the game, but it’s
a good steppingstone.”
[email protected]saying: “It’s about the principles.
We’re still learning the
principles.”
To a m an, Berhalter and the
players have preached patience.
They understand U.S. fans are
famished to see a w inner after the
debacle in the last World Cup
qualifying cycle and years of
treading water. While the
women’s program continues its
run of excellence, the men have
fallen off the radar.
The pandemic delayed efforts
to rebuild. The last time
European-based players were
available was a year ago. With an
MLS-heavy roste r, the U.S. squad
last played Feb. 1. World Cup
qualifying was pushed back, and
other competitions were
postponed.
The U.S. Soccer Federation
scrambled to fill dates this
month, the last of ficial window of
the year for international
matches. The Wales match was a
makeup for a M arch
postponement. The Americans
will face Panama on Monday in
Austria.
Because of pandemic issues,
Berhalter summoned players
almost entirely based in Europe.
In the coming months, he will
reintegrate a handful of MLSsaid. “It was something to
behold.”
Thanks to their work, the
Americans were — dare we say it?
— fun to watch before
intermission. They dominated
possession, forced errors through
pressure and played ambitious
soccer.
They fell short, however, in the
final third of the field — untidy
passing, bunching, indecisiveness
and, in forward Konrad de la
Fuente’s case, a bad miss from
close range after a W ales mistake.
Pulisic ’s ability to beat
defenders on the dribble was
missed. So was a striker to
provide menace. With Sargent
missing, Berhalter didn’t use a
natural central forward, instead
opting for Lletget to do the dirty
work.
“We have the desire to pla y. We
have a desire to keep the ball,”
said McKennie, 22, who joined
Italian champion Juventus this
season from Schalke in
Germany’s Bundesliga. “The next
big thing we might need to work
on is having a deadly instinct and
scoring a goal. You can have as
many [shutouts] as you want, but
you win games by scoring goals.”
Berhalter was encouraged by
the defensive and midfield work,There were several
impressive
elements from the
U.S. men’s
national soccer
team match Thursday, its first in
10 months and most anticipated
in years.
As a s tarting point — a nd what
should hearten fans still sick
about the Americans missing the
2018 World Cup — there was the
age and club affiliation of the
lineup in the 0-0 draw at Wales in
Plasmarl.
The outcome was immaterial.
This game was about introducing
a new generation of players,
many employed by famous clubs,
and blending them on the pitch
for the first time. (Six players
debuted.)
It also was about forging bonds
before things turn serious next
year in the Nations League, Gold
Cup, 2022 World Cup qualifiers
and, for some of the young ones,
the Olympics.
With an average age of less
than 23, the ensemble included
two pl ayers from FC Barcelona
and one apiece from Manchester
City, Juventus, Borussia
Dortmund, RB Leipzig,
Wolfsburg. Valencia, Fulham and
Anderlecht.
Those are among the biggest
names in European soccer, a list
more commonly seen on the
roster of a perennial threat.
And the Americans were
missing injured Chelsea attacker
Christian Pulisic and Werder
Bremen forward Josh Sargent,
who was barred from traveling
because of pandemic concerns.
The only outsider in the lineup
was the Los Angeles Galaxy’s
Sebastian Lletg et, Sargent’s
replacement, who, at 28, was
more than 10 years older than
first-timers Giovanni Reyna and
Yunus Musah.
“It was a y outhful lineup,”
Coach Gregg Berhalter said, “but
a lineup you can build from.”
The building blocks were in
midfield, where Musah, Tyler
Adams and Weston McKennie
(average age: 20) controlled the
tempo in the first half. They were
comfortable with one another
and performed with confidence.
“When you see those three
guys in midfield, it’s amazing how
much ground they can cover and
how dynamic they are,” Berhalter
Young n ational team may be fun to watch. It’s a start.
On Soccer
STEVEN GOFF
KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
G iovanni Reyna, right, was one of six players to debut for the U.S. men in a 0-0 friendly at Wales.FLOORING SALE
Get 60% OFF All
Mention Promo Code “WAPO”
To Save An Additional
$
100CALL TODAY!
855-997-0612
Sale AppliesTo AlICarpet, Hardwood, Laminate,Tile and Vinyl. Offer Good Through November 30, 2020.
WE
CO
METOY
O
U
!FREE
IN-HOME
ESTIMATESCARPET HARDWOOD LAMINATE VINYL TILE