North Macedonia will continue their charge for a place in the 2022 World Cup finals when they take on Armenia at Philip II Arena on Thursday.
Following their unsuccessful showing at Euro 2020, North Macedonia will be seeking some form of redemption with a positive result in this World Cup qualifying fixture.
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Making their first ever major tournament finals appearance at the Euro 2020, North Macedonia failed to make any impact in the competition, finishing at the basement of their qualifying section on zero points.
Despite their underwhelming outing at the continental competition, the Lions, who will be keen to earn a ticket to Qatar, can be forgiven for their inadequacies given their inexperience at such high level of football.
Having now gained some exposure ahead of their return to action in the World Cup qualifiers, Macedonia will be looking to continue their encouraging journey so far, after notching up two wins from three matches, and scoring nine goals in that time to occupy second place in Group H.
Their qualifying campaign started with a 3-2 defeat to Romania before the Lions proceeded to beat Liechtenstein 5-0 and – most impressively of all – overcome powerhouses Germany 2-1 in a famous victory.
Macedonia are spurred on to keep the momentum going, and with a new manager in Blagoja Milevski in the dugout, the players will be eager to make a good first impression on the 50-year-old, starting with a convincing display against table-toppers Armenia.
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In a group featuring the likes of Germany and Iceland, not many would have put their money on Armenia leading the pack after three games, but this is how affairs have panned out, with Joaquin Caparros's men maintaining a 100% winning record so far, and registering six goals.
Even though the Collective Team have enjoyed a blistering start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, the jury is still out on whether the Armenians can continue this run much longer, given their propensity to be inconsistent.
In fact, Caparros's charges, who missed out on the Euro 2020 finals after finishing just above the basement of Group J in the qualifiers, failed to win their last two matches – following up a 1-1 draw against Croatia with a 3-1 defeat to Sweden.
In need of a lift, Armenia will take confidence from the fact that they have won four of their previous six games, scoring in each of them, with the two winless fixtures being only friendlies.
When it comes to the head-to-head record between these two sides, they are equally matched, with Macedonia and Armenia winning two games apiece in their previous four meetings, and scoring 10 goals in total.
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North Macedonian football legend Goran Pandev will not be available for this fixture, following his retirement from international football after Euro 2020, where he found the back of the net once.
In the absence of the experienced striker, Vlatko Stojanovski is expected to step up to lead the line here.
Milevski still has a few star players in his ranks to call upon, including Eljif Elmas, Enis Bardhi and Ezgjan Alioski - the trio of whom can help Macedonia book a ticket to Qatar.
Having not featured for his country since October 2020, Henrikh Mkhitaryan is set for a recall to the squad for this round of qualifying fixtures.
The likes of Tigran Barseghyan, Khoren Bayramyan and Sargis Adamyan should provide good support for Mkhitaryan in attack.
North Macedonia possible starting lineup:
Dimitrievski; Ristovski, Velkovski, Musliu; Nikolov, Ademi, Spirovski, Bardhi, Alioski; Stojanovski, Elmad
Armenia possible starting lineup:
Yurchenko; Hovhannisyan, Calisir, Haroyan, Hambardzumyan; Bayramyan, Mkhitaryan, Grigoryan, Barseghyan; Adamyan, Briasco
Macedonia are very strong on home turf, having remained unbeaten in their last nine matches, and will be confident of keeping this impressive run going here.
The visitors are in the form of their lives at the moment and should give the hosts a difficult time, but Risovi's home advantage should be enough to help them to victory come full time.
