Portugal vs North Macedonia – On paper, Portugal is a huge favorite to beat North Macedonia in Tuesday’s World Cup qualifying play-off. The visitors, though, have players capable of pulling off a shock, as they did in the semifinal against Italy.
The Selecao overcame Turkey in the semifinals, despite some nerve-wracking moments in the second half when the opponents scored a goal and then missed a penalty kick. When they dropped points in the final two matches against Ireland and Serbia to finish second, it appeared that they were on the final lap of their group stage qualification campaign. On Thursday, fortune smiled at them, and they have one more game before booking their ticket to the World Cup in Qatar.
North Macedonia, on the other hand, were easily the second-best team against Italy and were only spared by Stole Dimitrievski’s gloves between the posts. They had a couple of excellent opportunities on their own, but it was Aleksandar Trajkovski’s score right before the final whistle that secured their first-ever play-off in a World Cup qualifying campaign.
This is Macedonia’s golden generation, and they just completed their first-ever debut in a major tournament at the European Championships in the summer, despite losing all three of their group matches. They were back to their best since then, losing only one of the eight games, and that loss came against Germany, a team they had defeated in the first leg of the qualifications on home soil.
North Macedonia has a history of beating large teams, but they’re up against a club that seldom loses at this point of the tournament. In the 2010 play-off, Portugal overcame Bosnia-Herzegovina, and in the 2014 version, Portugal defeated Sweden.
Portugal vs North Macedonia – Betting Analysis
Portugal remains the clear favorite to win this match, and we don’t see any reason to back them at 1.20 odds.
Goal markets, particularly the over 2.5 goals at full-time priced at 1.70, offer fantastic value. Portugal has won seven of its last eight games since exiting Euro 2020, while Macedonia has won five of its last seven.
I’ll go with the right full-time score of 3-0 in favor of the hosts, hoping that the Portuguese don’t waste as much time as the Italians did a few days before.
Keep an eye on Diogo Jota, who comes into this game having scored in each of his past three games for club and country, and is a good bet to score at any time.
Portugal vs North Macedonia – Betting Analysis
Our Prediction: Home to Win
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