North Macedonia will host Romania on Wednesday as the World Cup 2022 qualification competition continues for Group J, which has proven to be one of the most closely contested to this point.
The visitors sit just one point ahead of the Lions with both teams heading into the game having been unbeaten in their previous two matches.
Match preview
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North Macedonia are currently fifth in the qualifying group, but they only trail Armenia, who currently sit in second, by two points, with very little being between each team.
A victory would take the Lions ahead of their opponents, with Romania having nine points at the moment, which would put them in a great position to potentially qualify.
North Macedonia have picked up consecutive draws in their last two outings, with a goalless game against Armenia being followed by a 2-2 result against Iceland this past Sunday.
However, Blagoja Milevski was left disappointed with his team in that game as they did go 2-0 up thanks to goals from Darko Velkovski and fellow defender Ezgjan Alioski.
Yet Iceland were able to fight back as they scored twice late on in the match, with an 84th-minute strike from Andri Gudjohnsen stopping the Lions from taking all three points.
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The draw marked the fifth game in a row that North Macedonia have failed to pick up a victory, which is something they must change in order to stay in contention with the teams above them.
They last faced Romania in the opening fixture of Group J, but it was the Tricolorii who earned the three points that day in a five-goal thriller.
An 85th-minute goal from Ianis Hagi secured the 3-2 victory to give his team the perfect start to the qualification process, and since that point they have won another two games, both of which were in their most recent performances.
Romania head into this fixture following consecutive 2-0 wins against Iceland and Liechtenstein, with four different goalscorers proving the attacking versatility the squad have.
Sitting just three points behind Germany, who currently lead the group, a victory could wrap up this international break in style for the Tricolorii, who have not been part of the World Cup since 1998.
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Team News
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Alioski once again proved himself to be North Macedonia's true danger man, even from left-back, with his attacking play set to be crucial again to everything the hosts do.
Despite conceding twice it is unlikely there will be any defensive changes for the Lions, but after coming on from the bench against Iceland, there could be a start for Aleksandar Trajkovski this time around.
Jovan Markovic was able to overcome fatigue in order to lead the line on Sunday for Romania, which will be the case again here, but Denis Alibec was not fit enough to be involved in that game, raising concerns over him ahead of Wednesday.
After making his international debut against Iceland, Andrei Ratiu was then rested on Sunday, but he could be another option that is considered
North Macedonia possible starting lineup:
Dimitrievski; Ristovski, Velkovski, Alioski, Musliu; Elmas, Kostadinov, Spirovski, Churlinov; Ristovski, Bardhi
Romania possible starting lineup:
Nita; Manea, Rus, Nedelcearu, Tosca; Olaru, Stanciu, Marin; Hagi, Cordea, Markovic
We say: North Macedonia 0-1 Romania
This is an important game for both teams due to how tight Group J is right now, and each have had an impressive couple of performances during this international break.
However, Romania have managed to pick up crucial victories in comparison to the draws North Macedonia have earned, and that added momentum should see them make it a trio of wins.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a North Macedonia win with a probability of 49.5%. A win for Romania had a probability of 25.99% and a draw had a probability of 24.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a North Macedonia win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.37%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.54%) and 2-0 (8.52%). The likeliest Romania win was 0-1 (7.08%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.62%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 6.3% likelihood.
