Our team has won 1-0 over Aris Thessaloniki in the second friendly game in Slovenia. A victory that came after a very good performance against a very strong opponent. Aris Thessaloniki will also play in the second qualifying round of the UEFA CONFERENCE LEAGUE and they are in the same level of readiness as our team.
From the beginning of the game, our team put pressure on the opponent and controlled the game in the first fifteen minutes. We even had two good shots with Brown and Struski. Aris Th. picked up the pace and created some good chances but Vana and Sofroniou (substituted in 30 minutes) were ready and were not really threatened. On 43' Mancini was shown a second yellow card and sent off. The first half ended in a 0-0 draw. In this first half, the strength and runs of our players stood out and, as a result, the opponent players made many mistakes in their midfield line. The starting eleven for our team were: Vana (Sofroniou), Yago, Caju, Brorsson, Delmiro, Brown, Szoke, Struski, Mayambela, Slogar and Gomis.
In the second half Mr. Shpilevski made ten substitutions, as he has done in all the friendlies so far. Sofroniou under the posts ( 63' Papastylianou) with three players in defence, Moussounda, Manu and Dede-Lhomme, in the midfield Yaplonski, Pankov, Spoljaric, Iosifidis and Pileas as wingers and attackers Carlitos and Sikorski. The tempo of the game dropped as the opponent also made many changes from the 60th minute onwards. Aris Thessaloniki created some chances, but Sofroniou and Papastylianou were not beaten on two chances by Palma Enrique. On the 77th minute, our team scored with Sikorski who managed to score from very close range after a smart assist from Spoljaric. Aris Thessaloniki then tried to equalize without success. From the 82nd minute, our team was playing with 10 players due to Ivan Pankov's suspension with a second yellow card. So the game ended with our team winning the game. The game may have been a friendly match, but it certainly boosted the spirits of our players.
The next friendly game is against Vidi (Hungary) at the same stadium on July 10.
