North Macedonia-Malta is a match on the first day of Group C of the Euro 2024 qualifiers and is played on Thursday at 20:45: predictions.
The fate of these two selections, drawn in an iron group, already seems sealed. For North Macedonia and Malta, with Italy and England likely to compete for the first two places and with Ukraine trying to play the role of third wheel, the hopes of qualifying for the final phase of Euro 2024 are very slim.
The Balkans, however, have shown in recent years that they can go beyond their limits and cannot be underestimated. Italy knows something about this, and a year ago they were resoundingly eliminated from the Qatar 2022 qualifiers by Blagoja Milevski’s North Africans, who got the better of the Azzurri in Palermo, in the first of the two playoffs. Then their dream of participating in the World Cup was interrupted in the final play-off against Ronaldo’s Portugal, but the satisfaction of knocking off the reigning European champions was immeasurable. Not to mention that North Macedonia a few months earlier had managed to snatch a pass for Euro 2020, so far their only participation in the final phase of an international event. In short, a selection to be taken with caution, which has nothing to lose and will try to overturn the predictions.
North Macedonia start again without Pandev
Since the defeat to the Portuguese, however, North Macedonia’s results have not been exciting: Elmas and his team-mates have only beaten modest Gibraltar in the Nations League, while also losing two of the friendlies played before the World Cup.
Marcolini
Malta, on the other hand, finished second in League D of the last Nations League, in a group with Estonia and San Marino. Coached by former Chievo midfielder Michele Marcolini, the Biancorossi will have to pull off a real feat to avoid last place. In their last friendly matches, which date back to last November, they drew with Greece and lost narrowly to Ireland. North Macedonia’s attacker Trajkovski – he is the top scorer after Goran Pandev’s retirement – will line up alongside Ristovski: behind them will be the Neapolitan Elmas. On the other hand, Marcolini will rely on the fantasist Teuma, a great protagonist with the Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise.
The prediction
There is a clear difference in quality and experience between the two selections and it is not surprising that North Macedonia are favourites. In recent outings, however, the Balkans have not excelled offensively, which is why we do not expect a game full of goals, especially against Malta, who will think almost exclusively of defending in the only match in which they can realistically take away points.
The probable line-ups of Macedonia North-Malta
- NORTH MACEDONIA (4-4-2): Dimitrievski; Zajkov, Ristevski, Velkovski, Alioski; Ashkovski, Bardhi, Ademi, Elmas; Trajkovski, Ristovski.
- MALTA (3-4-2-1): Bonello; Z. Muscat, S. Borg, Apap; J. Mbong, Guillaumier, Paiber, Camenzuli; Teuma, Jones; Satariano.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-0
