With only 90 minutes separating them from another shot at international glory, the North Macedonian team faces off in their World Cup 2022 playoff final against Portugal on Tuesday evening with kickoff at 945 pm.
The overwhelming odds were against Portugal as they went into their playoff semi-final with Turkey strongly fancied to progress. Still, they came out all guns blazing and were two goals up inside twenty minutes through Otavio and Jota.
The Turkish team then reduced the deficit with their own goal before Burak Yilmaz slotted home to make it 2–2, and Portugal seized on the gap to win 5–2 on aggregate and book their place at the World Cup themselves.
Poor performances and results have dogged the Portugal football team over the last 15 years, but their coach has insisted that they pay North Macedonia the respect they deserve on Tuesday in the first leg of their Euro 2016 play-off.
On Thursday night, the footballing world was left stunned as Italy fell to a 2-0 home defeat against a strong North Macedonia side. Two goals beat Roberto Mancini’s side over the 90 minutes to crash out of contention for the 2018 World Cup. An injury-time Aleksandar Trajkovski strike denied them their chance to advance to the knockout stages of a World Cup for the first time in their history.
Portugal vs. North Macedonia Head to Head
Both sides have one game against each other that ended in a draw. Here is a look at their previous encounters:
Home
- Portugal 3-1 Turkey
- Portugal 1-2 Serbia
- Ireland 0-0 Portugal
- Portugal 5-0 Luxembourg
- Portugal 3-0 Qatar
Away
- Italy 0-1 North Macedonia
- North Macedonia 3-1 Iceland
- Armenia 0-5 North Macedonia
- North Macedonia 0-4 Germany
- Liechtenstein 0-4 North Macedonia
Portugal Team News
Portugal’s Cancelo is available for selection after missing the semi-final due to a one-match suspension from the victory over Turkey, with Santos not having any new injury concerns. Manager Fernando Santos should again start with Danilo Pereira at centre-back alongside Jose Fonte.
North Macedonia Team News
Meanwhile, North Macedonia will have two midfield lynchpins in Eljif Elmas, and Tihomir Kostadinov from suspension for Tuesday’s game after stand-in midfielder Boban Nikolov was taken off injured in the team’s 1-0 defeat by Italy.
Prediction and Odds
Although North Macedonia deserved credit for defeating European champions, a more clinical side could have taken advantage of the hosts’ more vulnerable moments.
- Portugal Win
- Goals Under 2.5
- No Score: Away
