GENEVA—Armenia’s national soccer team won their friendly face-off against the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday in Switzerland with a final score of 4 – 3 at Geneva’s Stade de la Fontenette Carouge.
The score line was opened by Armenia’s Levon Hayrapetyan with a goal at the 37th minutes, but the two teams would stay level pegging for much of the game. First came a response by the Emirates’ Ismail Ahmed making it 1 – 1, then Dortmund playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan with a goal in net to make it 2 – 1 before half-time.
At the outset of the second half, the UAE’s Omar Abdulrahman equalized again before Armenia took the lead by two goals from striker Yura Movsisyan and midfielder Rumyan Hovsepyan who scored within four minutes of one another.
The UAE’s Mohanad Salem found the target at the 85th minute, but it was too late for an equalizer and the score was 4 – 3 for Armenia at the full-time whistle.
The match was the first for Armenia’s new coach Bernard Challandes, who has scheduled two more friendly matches before the start of the World Cup and before the start of Armenia’s next Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, which will start in September.
Armenia will face Algeria next on Saturday, May 31, and then Germany on Friday, June 6, just ahead of the start of the World Cup.