Portugal vs North Macedonia: Preview and Prediction
Portugal is set to play North Macedonia at the Estadio Do Dragao on Tuesday. This football game is a do-or-die for both teams as the winner of this match will directly qualify for the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup.
The Ronaldo-led team are undoubtedly the favourites to win the match and thus qualify for the World Cup as they are also playing at their home stadium, however, one should not take North Macedonia lightly who just in their previous game knocked Euro 2020 champions Italy out of the qualifiers.
Current Form
Fernando Santos coached Portugal registered a comfortable win over Turkey in the previous round of the Qualifiers after scoring two early goals. Turkey’s Burak Yilmaz though did bring back the visitors into the game with a 65th-minute strike, but Nunes’ goal right at the death of the match ensured the 2016 Euro champions emerge 3-1 victorious and progress to the next round.
North Macedonia though shocked the entire world by registering a historic win over Italy. Undoubtedly, the dark horse of this tournament, they parked the bus against Gli Azzurri for the entirety of the game and won the match courtesy of Aleksandar Trajkovski’s goal in the fag end of the match, shocking every soul in the footballing world.
Also Read, North Macedonia pull off the upset of the year knocking out Italy; Portugal, Sweden, Wales advance
North Macedonia is ranked 67th in the world, below Turkey who is 39th and their opponents in the final look like a much easier opponent on paper for Portugal. However, the game is not played on paper and the Lions will be looking to shock the world once again by eliminating Portugal this time from the World Cup.
Head to Head Record
Portugal and Macedonia have met only twice in history, and both these games were friendly internationals. In the first meeting in 200, the 3Selecao won 2-1 and the second meeting in 2012 ended in a stalemate as none of the teams was able to score a goal.
Team News
Pepe returns after missing the last game due to illness
The returns of defensive duo João Cancelo and Pepe should ease Fernando Santos’s concerns in the defence although Portugal will miss the services of Manchester City defender Ruben Dias due to injury. Renato Sanchez also comes back from suspension but is not expected to start the game with Santos opting to start with Bernardo Silva in a free role with Cristiano Ronaldo and Diego Jota expected to lead the attack.
Having already defeated the likes of Germany and Italy en-route to this game, Blagoja Milevski’s men are capable of making yet another major scalp. Both Eljif Elmas and Tihomir Kostadinov return from suspension.
Predicted Starting Lineups
Portugal (4-4-2): Diogo Costa; João Cancelo, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro; Danilo, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Otávio; Ronaldo, Jota
North Macedonia (4-4-2): Dimitrievski; S. Ristovski, Velkovski, Musliu, Alioski; Churlinov, Ademi, Bardi, Elmas; M. Ristovski, Trajkovski
Prediction
There is no doubt in the fact that Portugal is the clear favourites to win this match and qualify for the 2022 World Cup Finals. Given that North Macedonia have already defeated Italy in the run-up to the game, Portugal will now be extra cautious and will come fully prepared to face the minnows.Also, the very fact that there’s a big difference between Portugal and Italy’s offensive line. While Italy is gentle upfront, Selecao is daunting with players like Cristiano and Jota. And if a team starts defending against Portugal, it often ends up as a catastrophe for them. Hence, we bet on the hosts to win by at least a two-goal margin.