With Spanish referee Iturralde Gonzales’ “blessing”, Armenia failed to win a play-off sport in UEFA EURO 2012.

Having robbed Armenia of 2 players 26 minutes into the game, he virtually handed over the victory to Irish squad.

On field, though, we saw a new Armenia, the squad it never was even at the best winning games vs. Slovakia and Macedonia. Armenian players showed a mature and quality performance, enough stamina to perplex their rivals. Ireland may be proud of securing a play-off spot, yet one needn’t be a professional to see their performance was dull and insipid.

At Aviva Stadium, 1 step divided the teams from EURO 2012 finals. Unfortunately, Armenia hasn’t taken it. Yet the qualifiers gave us more than a chance to make it to finals- Armenia gained a steadfast team, never sparing themselves for victory, and a coach, who’s a true professional.

As Yura Movsisyan said, “Armenia won its spot in football map of the world. And we’re yet to mark our victories on it.” Hasmik Babayan