The Armenia national football team is getting ready for the next qualifying match.
What will the Armenia team gain from the match against Portugal, what will Armenian players seek after and how will Sargis Hovsepyan fulfill the head coach’s duties? These are questions the question marks of which will remain hanging till June 13.
After Bernard Challandes resigned, Sargis Hovsepyan was appointed interim head coach for the Armenia national team. He knows the national quite well as he has defended the latter’s colors for many years and not long ago the majority of the footballers were playing with him side by side.
However, it’s yet not clear whether the former captain will be able to show his worth as a head coach and what technical and tactical decisions he will make.
To date, our national has failed the Euro 2016 qualifying round, to put it mildly. The Armenia team lost three out of four matches and played only one match to a tie. Having scored only two goals, Armenian players had six balls in their own goal.
It is due to such deplorable statistics that the Armenia national is the outsider of Group I, and it no longer has any real hope for higher ranking positions.
Photo: dailymail.co.uk
On June 13, our footballers will play the Portuguese, the leaders of the group. The teams held their latest match in fall last year. Armenians played the game mostly sticking to somewhere around the vicinity of their goal. The Portugal team that had besieged the penalty area was creating dangerous moments one after another. Our players managed to hold out for 71 minutes but after that Ronaldo had his say and scored a goal – the goal that earned the Portugal team a victory.
The players of Portugal team under Fernando Santos are the favorites in this match as well. They admitted they are coming to Yerevan for solely the three points that will drive them closer to Euro 2016 final.
Fernando Santos also expects his team to win but he is sure the match won’t be as easy as pie.
Interestingly, the Portugal team has yet never scored a victory in Yerevan. The last match between the teams in Yerevan took place in Euro 2008 qualifying round. The game ended 1-1. During the match, Robert Arzumanyan distinguished himself among Armenians, and Ronaldo – among the Portuguese.
This is the score Armenian fans remember. The majority of Armenian football fans hope that the Armenia national won’t break the tradition at home and won’t present three points to Portugal.
Armenia vs. Portugal Euro 2016 qualifying round will take place at Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium on June 13, at 8 pm.
Gohar Nalbandian
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