YEREVAN, August 19 (Noyan Tapan). The Armenian national team held the first qualifying of the 2006 World Championship on August 18. Competing with the national team of Macedonia in Skopie, the capital of Macedonia, Armenian football-players were defeated with a score of 0:3. Before the match French Bernard Kazonie, newly-appointed head coach of the team, and football-players made optimistic statements, but the match showed that they weren't ready for the contention. Armenian captain Hartyun Vardanyan was red-carded in the 72nd and dropped out of further struggle. 1 match was also held in the European World Cup Group 1 qualifier, where the national teams of Armenia and Macedonia are involved. The Romanians beat Finns with a score of 2:1 in their field. The Armenian national team will hold the next match of the qualifier on September 8. It will receive the national team of Finland at the "Hanrapetakan" stadium in Yerevan this day. The youth team of Armenia, which participates in the qualifier of the European Championship, also unsuccessfully started the contention. The Macedonian youth team beat the Armenian team with a score of 4:0.

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