SPORTSWORLD.AM
In the second round of the UEFA Conference League League stage, Armenian champion/cupholder NOA hosted Romanian Universitatea Craiova in an away match. Let us remind you that Sandro Perkovic's men won the first match of the league stage at home against Croatian Reika (1:0). The only and winning goal was scored by 27-year-old Bosnian Nardin Mulahusejnovic. The Romanian representative started the tournament with a defeat. This match is significant for Takuto Oshima. The Japanese footballer played for the Romanian team before moving to NOA. Universitatea Craiova was founded by students and university students played for them. Craiova was able to win the championship title with such a composition. NOA is currently in 16th place, while the Romanian club is in third.
Ferreira and his teammates started the match actively, not allowing the opponent to approach the edges of their own penalty area. This was said by the head coach of Craiova, Mirel Rado, noting that “Noa” is difficult to analyze, we have watched many games and the attitude and game actions are completely different.” Alexandru Cicaldau and his friends tried to break through the defense of the Yerevan club in the middle of the first half, which were unsuccessful. Let's add that the 28-year-old Romanian, Cicaldau, arrived in Yerevan in the spring of 2021 for the match against the Armenian national team within the framework of the 2022 World Cup, where our team won 3:2. In that match, the Romanian team was led by Mirel Rado.
In the 31st minute of the match, "Noa" organized two sharp attacks as a result of the cooperation of Alen Grgrich, Takuto Oshima, and Boake, but failed to send the ball beyond the goal line. According to the statistical data provided by AFSCORE, there were no shots on "Noa"'s goal until the 37th minute, by "Craiova", but the home team opened the score thanks to a goal by Monday Etimi.
During the first half, Craiova had two touches of the ball near the Noah penalty area, which allowed them to open the scoring, while the Yerevan team had twelve in the same period. In the second half, Oshima and his teammates did not give up their style of play, and at that time Sandro Perkovic brought Nardin Mulahusejnovic onto the field, as his team began to make passes towards the home team's penalty area, which the Bosnian player could continue.
After Mulahusejnović entered the field, the champion/cupholder of Armenia also started winning in single battles. In the 73rd minute of the match, the Croatian specialist made a triple substitution, bringing out green grass, refreshing Gudmundur Thorarinsson, Hovhannes Hambardzumyan and Gor Manvelyan in two positions, which paid off. David Sualehen received a pass from the left flank of the attack, and Bardin Mulahusejnović equalized the score (1:1). Five minutes before the end of the regular time of the match, Craiova launched a barrage of attacks on the goal of "Noa" more than during the entire match, but thanks to the efforts of the defenders of the Yerevan team, no goal was scored. Thus, "Noa" earns four points. The champion of Armenia recorded this result (four points) during the entire tournament last year. "Noah" will host the Czech "Sigma" at home in the next round, which again ended in a draw (1:1).