The women’s national football teams of Bulgaria and Kosovo finished in a goalless draw in their match of Group 5 in UEFA Women’s Nations League C, played in Plovdiv. Bulgarian football players completely outplayed their opponents in the first half, but failed to score, as a goal for them was disallowed in the 26th minute. In the second half, however, the “lionesses” slowed down, and the guests were more active and also had their chances to score.
The first opportunity in the match came for the Bulgarians. In the 5th minute, the home team won the ball well in front of the Kosovo penalty area. After several good passes, Lora Petrova shot from the arc of the penalty area, but the goalkeeper Besarta Leci intervened. In the 15th minute, Alexandra Yaneva then shot quite dangerously from mid-range, the ball flying just under the crossbar, but Besarta Leci cleared for a corner. A few seconds later, the Bulgarian defense allowed a crack and allowed Valentina Limani to remain in a clean position alone in front of the goalkeeper Roksana Shahanska. However, the shot of the visitors’ striker was quite inaccurate and went out.
In the 26th minute, Evdokiya Popadiynova tried something between a shot and a cross, but the ball went rather dangerously just under the crossbar of the Kosovo goal. The goalkeeper of the guests intervened, but Dimitra Ivanova scored. Immediately after that, however, there was a signal from the referee that the ball had left the outline of the goal during Evdokiya Popadiynova’s shot, and so the goal was disallowed.
The second half started with a good situation for Bulgaria, as Evdokiya Popadiynova controlled the ball well in the penalty area and shot, but her shot was blocked. A little later, Ereleta Memeti passed to Lumbardha Misini, who made a dangerous shot, but Roksana Shahanska showed her class again and saved.
Afterward, the guests played better, and the home national team certainly did not show the same game from the first half. However, as time passed, the Bulgarians organized several attacks, and in one of them, Yaneva failed to head a cross from the left.
Bulgaria is in first place in the group standings with 4 points and still without conceding a goal in their net. For Kosovo, it was the first match and the first point in the asset. The third is the Northern Macedonia.
In the other matches from the UEFA Women’s Nations League C, Armenia lost to Kazakhstan by 1-2 with Veronika Asatryan (54′) scoring for the hosts and Asselkhan Turlybekova (27′) and Arailym Orynbassarova (57′) being accurate for the visitors.
Israel smashed Estonia by 5-0 as a visitor, after the goals of Meytal Sharabi (7′), Rahel Shtainshnaider (17′), Noa Selimhodzic (60′), Vital Kats (75′), and Sharon Beck (90+2′), while Turkey defeated Lithuania at home by 2-0 with goals of Sadikoglu Birgul (29′) and Ilayda Civelek (80′). Cyprus won their match versus Faroe Islands by 1-0 after the goal of Antri Violari in the 65th minute, while Montenegro lost to Azerbaijan by 0-1 with a late goal of Nazlican Parlak (85′).
A hattrick from Karlina Miksone (15′, 26′, 45+4′) and another goal of Viktorija Zaicikova (36′) brought the convincing 4-0 victory of Latvia as a visitor of Andorra. Malta won by 2-0 their match versus Moldova after two goals of Haley Bugeja (46′ and 58′) and Luxembourg and Georgia made a 1-1 draw.