North Macedonia vs Ukraine Preview
As North Macedonia vs Ukraine Preview is online, they are about to clash on the Euro 2024 qualifications round on Group C at Tose Proeski Arena on today’s meetings.
Sergiv Rebrov’s men sit fourth in the section due to opening loss to England, on the other hand the hosts defeats by 2-1 scoreline to start on right foot.
Fresh from their historic yet short-lived appearance at Euro 2020 and run to the World Cup qualifying playoff final which ended in heartbreak against Portugal North Macedonia have now been brought crashing back down to earth and then some.
Blagoja Milevski‘s team won just two of their six Nations League fixtures in 2022-23 to remain in Group C, but their attempts to make back-to-back Euros finals began in ideal fashion with a narrow triumph over Malta on March 23, where Eljif Elmas and Darko Churlinov made the net ripple.
The world’s 65th-ranked nation were full value for that triumph – even if it was a gritty one – and they made it successive wins not long after with a 1-0 friendly beating of the Faroe Islands, although they had to wait until the 81st minute for Bojan Miovski’s crucial contribution.
At this embryonic stage, North Macedonia are only behind Italy in the Group C standings on goal difference with a game in hand, but a taxing trip to England awaits Milevski’s men three days after their showdown with Ukraine, who could become the hosts’ fifth straight victim in Euro qualifying. On the otherhand, Malta have a match with England on the Euro 2024 qualifiers round on today’s meetings.
Indeed, the Lynxes have claimed four wins from their last four Euro qualifying matches against Israel, Kosovo, Georgia and Malta, but they have never won five in a row at this stage before, and Ukraine possessed a striking taste for goals in Bremen. Kosovo have a match with Romania on the Euro 2024 qualifiers on today meetings.
Team News and Injury
Two of North Macedonia’s goalscorers from March’s round of fixtures will not turn out for the Lynxes here, as Aberdeen attacker Miovski and Burnley winger Churlinov who was recently hospitalised due to blood poisoning have been left out of the squad.
Istanbulspor midfielder Valon Ethemi has also withdrawn due to an unspecified injury, but with Napoli’s Elmas and Trabzonspor’s Enis Bardhi boasting 23 international goals between them, Milevski should not have too many selection concerns in the engine room.
Twenty-goal attacker Aleksandar Trajkovski – North Macedonia’s second-highest scorer of all time after Goran Pandev (38) – will expect to start up front alongside Udinese’s Ilija Nestorovski, who has 10 strikes to show from 50 games for the national team.
As for Ukraine, Rebrov has no new injury worries to report from their six-goal spectacular with Germany, although Club Brugge striker Roman Yaremchuk was forced to leave the camp prior to that game due to injury.
The visiting manager should see little reason to disrupt the harmony after his side’s valiant display in Bremen, where Shakhtar Donetsk duo Heorhiy Sudakov and Taras Stepanenko paired up in the middle in the absence of Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Head-to-Head stats
With three wins from the last five meetings, Ukraine boast a superior record in the fixture.
North Macedonia’s only win came in March 2004, when they edged out the Blue and Yellow 1-0 at the Skopje Stadium, while the spoils have been shared once.
Ukraine have won their last three games against Milevski’s men, scoring five goals and keeping two clean sheets.
North Macedonia are winless in all but one of their last six competitive outings, losing four since June 2022.
Rebrov’s men have lost just one of their last five outings across competitions, picking up two wins and as many draws since September.
North Macedonia vs Ukraine Prediction
On Germany dominating the possession and gained columns against Ukraine, Rebrov’s pushed their hosts and made them defendless and can be hoping to do the same in the North Macedonia outfit.
The victory of hosts’ over the Faroe Islands and Malta in March were far from convincing, and we can only picture Ukraine ending their bid for a top-two finish.
