North Macedonia vs Wales prediction: EUROPE: World Championship – Qualification betting tips on match 2025-03-24 19:45.
[p]North Macedonia made a perfect start as they aim to qualify for the World Cup for the first time as they swept minnows Liechtenstein aside 3-0 on Saturday. That was a sixth successive competitive victory without conceding for the Lynxes, but with the highest-ranked team they beat in that streak being 100th-placed Armenia, a significant step up in opposition awaits here as #29-ranked Wales come to town for a first H2H since 2013.[/p]
[p]Confidence should be high regardless as North Macedonia have lost just two of their last 12 World Cup qualifiers (W7, D3) and only missed out on the last finals by losing a play-off against Portugal. That run includes beating Italy on the road, but form on home soil has been strong for a while now too, with their last such loss coming back in June 2023 (W4, D2).[/p]
[p]Wales also come into this clash having made a winning start to their qualifying campaign, despite a sluggish performance against Kazakhstan (3-1). In stark contrast to his demeanour as a player, manager Craig Bellamy was described as “Mr Calm” by captain Ben Davies at half-time of that victory to help his side over the line and extend his unbeaten start at the helm to seven matches (W4, D3).[/p]
[p]Only one of those wins came on the road, with Wales victorious just twice in their last 12 away matches overall (D5, L5). Those struggles haven’t extended to World Cup qualifying in recent times, with the Dragons’ only such defeat since 2013 coming against Belgium (W4, D5), a run that actually started after a 2-1 reverse to North Macedonia in one of only two previous meetings, both of which were decided by a one-goal margin (W1, L1).[/p]
[p]Key battle: The hosts’ Bojan Miovski is a man in form for his country, directly contributing to six goals in as many appearances for North Macedonia (G4, A2), scoring and assisting in the win over Liechtenstein. He’ll be marshalled by Wales captain Ben Davies, who marked his 13th successive competitive international appearance by becoming the first Welshman since Gareth Bale in 2016 to score and assist in the same World Cup qualifier.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Just one of North Macedonia’s last eight World Cup qualifiers saw both teams score.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Ryan Fisher[/i][/p]