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Berisha savors historic goal
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VALON Berisha said he had fulfilled a dream and his place in history after scoring Kosovo’s only goal on its competitive debut to salvage a draw away in Finland in a World Cup qualifier.
Berisha, a midfielder with Austrian champion Red Bull Salzburg, converted a penalty on the hour mark in Turku to cancel out Paulus Arajuuri’s opener for the hosts on 18 minutes on Monday.
Kosovo was only accepted into FIFA in May and the draw was all the more remarkable given that world football’s governing body only gave its approval for a host of players — including Berisha — to represent the Balkan outfit hours before the Group I clash.
“It was my dream to score. It is a historic goal,” said Berisha, who previously played for Norway. “Kosovo deserved to win the match but I am happy because my family asked me to be the first to score for Kosovo.”
Prime Minister Isa Mustafa hailed the performance and the result, congratulating the players and saying it proved that Kosovo were “worthy of international competition”.
The Balkan nation is level with all the other teams in Group I as both Croatia-Turkey and Ukraine-Iceland also ended 1-1.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. About 100 countries recognize it as a state now, but major countries such as Russia do not.
In Shkodra, Albania, resuming a day after play was suspended by rain, Bekim Balaj scored in the 89th minute yesterday to give Albania a 2-1 win over Macedonia in their qualifier.
Balaj scored with a header from a free kick as the teams played out the final 15 minutes of the Group G match.
“It was very difficult to play in two days, very difficult to bring players on the pitch with the proper intensity,” Albania coach Giovanni de Biasi said. “Let’s enjoy the victory as we are leading the group together with Italy and Spain.”
The match was abandoned Monday after 75 minutes with the score 1-1. Armando Sadiku gave Albania the lead in the ninth minute and Ezdjan Alioski equalized in the 51st.
Alioski is also of Albanian origin.
“To me personally, it was very important to score the first goal for Macedonia, though it was against Albania,” Alioski said. “I do not see against whom I am playing with. I am very happy for my first goal.”
Italy and Spain also have three points from their opening matches. Ten-man Italy beat Israel 3-1 in Haifa while Spain trounced Liechtenstein 8-0 in Leon.
Elsewhere on Monday, Wales blanked Moldova 4-0 in Cardiff; Republic of Ireland drew 2-2 with Serbia in Belgrade; and Austria won 2-1 in Georgia.
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