Slovenia sinks North Macedonia with goals from Lovric and Matko in the Nations League

Zan Vipotnik's crossbar off the post in minute 1 was the first sign that Slovenia meant business. But it took 54 minutes for the scoring to truly open up, and once it did, it never closed again: Slovenia 2, North Macedonia 0, in a match at Stadion Stozice that ended up being far more comfortable than the scoreless halftime score suggested.

The result comes from the group stage of the UEFA Nations League, in Group B1, where Slovenia had picked up points in its opening match and needed to confirm that good form against an opponent that had yet to get on the board.

A dominant first half without a payoff

From the opening whistle it was clear who held the initiative. Vipotnik could have put his side ahead in the first minute with a shot that crashed off the crossbar, and the pattern repeated itself several more times: in the 14th minute, Jaka Bijol tried a header off a cross from Danijel Sturm; at the 25th, Vipotnik himself forced a big save from point-blank range; and at the 28th and 30th came further attempts from Sandi Lovric and Vipotnik again. North Macedonia defended with discipline, barely threatening on the counter, and the first half went into the break scoreless, a result that, given the chances created, was starting to feel unfair to the home side.

Lovric breaks the deadlock, Matko seals it on the break

The second half picked up right where the first left off: Sturm gave a warning at the 48th and Vanja Drkusic hit a header straight at the goalkeeper at the 53rd. A minute later, in the 54th, the breakthrough finally came: Sandi Lovric finished with his right foot from inside the box, after an assist from Tjas Begic, to make it 1-0. North Macedonia tried to respond with substitutions from Goce Sedloski, who brought on Enis Bardhi and Luka Stankovski to look for something down the flanks, and the visitors did put together their best spell between the 73rd and 76th minutes with shots from Bardhi and Stankovski and a header from Visar Musliu. But the game was decided at the other end: in the 81st minute, a counterattack finished off with a through ball from Sturm left Aljosa Matko, who had just come on, alone in front of goal to finish with his right foot and make it a final 2-0.

The numbers back up the dominance

The stats confirm what was visible on the field: more possession, more shots and far more clear-cut chances for Slovenia.

The xG generated in the match, an in-house estimate calculated from shot locations rather than a pre-match forecast, puts Slovenia at 2.167 against just 0.938 for North Macedonia, a gap that captures pretty well what unfolded: the home side got forward more often and with more quality, and the final score ended up matching that output.

What it means in the standings

With this result, Slovenia stays in second place in Group B1 with 4 points from 2 matches played, 4 points behind leaders Switzerland, who sit on 6. North Macedonia, meanwhile, remains without a point after two defeats and sits at the bottom of the group. There is still a long way to go in the group stage, but Slovenia leaves a solid impression: it dominated from start to finish, even if it had to wait until the second half for that dominance to translate into goals.