Armenia sustains crushing defeat with red card and own goal
Armenian national football team lost to Ireland in Dublin's Aviva Stadium on Tuesday evening. Luck favored the host team at the UEFA EURO 2012 Group B qualifier who beat Armenia 2:1, qualifying for the second place with 21 points.
Both teams started off with an attacking game, Ireland showing a rough performance at the very onset. 27 minutes into the game the arbiter handed a red card to Armenian goalkeeper Berezovsky, asserting the latter sprinted from goal to save the Ireland striker's shot outside the box with hands. Berezovsky was substituted with 20-year-old goalkeeper Arsen Petrosyan.
The Armenian team was able to resist the rival's attacks with a 10-member squad. However, couple of minutes before the end of the 1st half-time, Armenia defender Valeri Aleksandyan notched an own goal opening the score for Ireland.
Irish Richard Dunne doubled the score at the 59th minute. Though Armenia's Henrik Mkhiratyan was able to curtail the difference in the score, reviving the hopes of his team players, Vardan Minasyan's charges were unable to beat Ireland.
The result gives Armenia third place in Group B behind the six-nation standings direct qualifier Russia and runner-up Ireland.
