North Macedonia vs Belgium prediction: EUROPE: World Championship – Qualification betting tips on match 2025-06-05 18:45.
[p]After starting their 2026 World Cup qualification (WCQ) campaign by beating Liechtenstein 3-0 and drawing 1-1 with Wales, North Macedonia sit top of Group J, although next up are Belgium, a side yet to commence their WCQ campaign. Blagoja Milevski’s side are now unbeaten in almost a year (W6, D2) with all six of those wins impressively seeing them keep a clean sheet too.[/p]
[p]With more teams than ever before qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, hopes are high that the Lynxes can make their first appearance at the finals, and this contest is a good opportunity to measure their progress given they lost the previous two H2Hs they hosted without scoring. Encouragingly, they haven’t suffered a home defeat since Ukraine beat them in June 2023 (W4, D3) and two of the three draws in that time were against England and Italy who, like Belgium, are ranked inside FIFA’s top ten.[/p]
[p]After battling past Ukraine 4-3 on aggregate to maintain their place in League A of the UEFA Nations League in March, Belgium boss Rudi Garcia can now focus fully on the World Cup. He’s sprung a surprise by calling up just-qualified Portuguese-born defender Diego Moreira, who certainly isn’t a household name, but he was a key player for Strasbourg last season as they qualified for Europe.[/p]
[p]Having not lost a WCQ game since October 2009 (W23, D5) anything less than a top-two finish would be a shock considering the Red Devils also topped the group in each of their last three WCQ campaigns. Another fast start could help them on their way to making that four in a row in this campaign, and having netted before half-time in each of their last three WCQ away matches, that’s certainly a distinct possibility. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Aleksandar Trajkovski opened the scoring for North Macedonia in their last competitive victory against Liechtenstein and he’s netted the game’s first goal with his last four strikes at international level. Romelu Lukaku struck twice after the 70th minute against Ukraine in March (W 3-0) and then scored twice across his last three club appearances to help Napoli seal the Serie A title.[/p]
[p]Hot streak: There was at least one goal scored after the 80th minute in each of North Macedonia’s last three home WCQ fixtures.[/p]
[p][i]Written by John Pennington[/i][/p]