Following their history-making heroics in qualifying for this summer's delayed Euro 2020, Igor Angelovski's North Macedonia squad visit Bucharest to meet Romania on Thursday.
The one-time minnows of European football now look to make a positive start to their Group J campaign, in pursuit of qualification for next year's World Cup in Qatar. The hosts, meanwhile, aim to defy the odds and reach their first global finals since 1998.
Match preview
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Though still only rated the 65th-best team in the world rankings, North Macedonia are enjoying the most successful spell in their history, ahead of their quest to qualify for a first-ever World Cup in 2022.
One of the heroes of their last campaign, versatile Leeds United man Ezgjan Alioski will be looking to add to his 38 caps during this intense period of action, with his most recent outing for the national side being the 1-0 win over Georgia to reach this summer's Euros.
Having made 28 appearances for Leeds this season - primarily at left-back - and scored goals against Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion, the 29-year-old is now an established Premier League regular and heads a cast of several other names emerging from one of the continent's more unlikely success stories.
Veteran Genoa forward Goran Pandev still features sporadically in Serie A - as do Napoli midfielder Eljif Elmas and Udinese forward Ilija Nestorovski - while most other squad members are drawn from more humble club environments. However, when they convene under one flag, the whole often proves greater than the sum of their parts.
Once the Red Lions have completed their business in Bucharest this week, they face contrasting engagements with Liechtenstein, at home in Skopje, and then away to Germany, in Duisburg.
With the other countries involved in a well-balanced section - the Germans aside - being Iceland and recent nemesis Armenia, Igor Angelovski's men can realistically target another playoff spot this time around.
Though in the decisive game of their most recent Nations League campaign - in which the Macedonians only needed a draw to earn promotion and subsequent playoff opportunity - they were beaten 1–0 in Armenia, the mood in the camp remains buoyant. Certainly, the rank outsiders for Euro 2020 glory will relish challenging higher-ranked opposition on Thursday.
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Romania - being one of the only four nations from Europe that took part in the first World Cup in 1930 - have a long and storied history in the global game's premier event, but have now failed to qualify since the turn of the century.
Racked by inconsistency, they finished only third in their Nations League group last year, after some wildly unpredictable results - beating Belarus 5-3 and downing Norway 3-0, after losing to both Austria (1-0) and the Norwegians (4-0).
Previously, 37th-ranked Romania were beaten playoff semi-finalists in qualification for the Euros - losing to Iceland in their one-off tie last October - which caused acute pain among the nation's fervent football fans, as the Arena Nationala is set to host a handful of games in this summer's delayed finals.
Head coach Mirel Radoi's men will therefore aim to get their search for a top-two spot in World Cup qualifying Group J off to a solid start with all three points against North Macedonia.
A younger generation, relatively unscarred by recent failures - including Ianis Hagi of Rangers, Valentin Mihalia and Dennis Man of Serie A strugglers Parma, and Reading striker George Puscas - will be pressing for opportunities, as 67-times capped ex-international Radoi looks to shape a team capable of going all the way to Qatar.
The visitors are, though, in excellent form on the international stage, having gone unbeaten in eight competitive games before falling to defeat in Armenia last time out, so even home advantage is no guarantee of success for a side hoping to secure second place in the section.
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Team News
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North Macedonia manager Igor Angelovski has his most integral players available for the trip to Bucharest this week, as his side met up in Skopje reporting few fresh injury concerns.
Italy-based trio Eljif Elmas, Goran Pandev and Iljia Nestorovski could all start for the visitors, with Stefan Spirovski, of AEK, set to run the engine room.
Dinamo Zagreb pair Stefan Ristovski and Arijan Ademi come into the game on a high from being involved in the Europa League slaying of Tottenham Hotspur, while Real Mallorca forward Aleksandr Trajkovski - yet to score in the Segunda Liga this season - is in contention for a place in the front line.
Following a recent run of games for Parma, 21-year-old Valentin Mihalia has been called up to Romania's senior squad for the first time and may feature from the bench, with his club colleague, tricky winger Dennis Man, more likely to start for Mirel Radoi's hosts.
CFR Cluj captain Camora, previously a Brazil-born journeyman, has featured regularly since earning naturalisation last year and could start on the left flank, but faces stiff competition from Nicosur Bancu.
Striker Denis Alibec was injured in mid-January and, after undergoing surgery last month, has already returned to individual training ahead of schedule, but was not fit enough to rejoin his international teammates. Therefore, Reading's George Puscas and veteran Claudiu Keseru are Radoi's main options up front.
Milan goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu retired from international football at the end of last year after 73 appearances for Romania, so Florin Nita could start in goal.
Romania possible starting lineup:
Nitu; Bancu, Chirches, Tosca, Burca; Maxim, Marin, Stanciu; Man, Puscas, Tanase
North Macedonia possible starting lineup:
Dimitrevski; Ristovski, Musliu, Velkovski, Alioski; Spirovski, Ademi; Trajkovski, Elmas, Nestorovski; Pandev
We say: Romania 2-1 North Macedonia
Having perhaps under-achieved in recent times, the wide-open nature of the race for second place behind Germany in Group C should inspire Romania sufficiently to take advantage of playing at home first, ahead of a frenetic week of fixtures.
With the well-balanced section set to throw up a series of tightly-contested games though, this encounter could be a potential early highlight, as North Macedonia are a newly-confident proposition with several talented individuals that thrive on the international stage.
Top tip
Jonathan O'Shea
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 Romania win with a probability of 51.39%. A draw had a probability of 24.9% and a win for North Macedonia had a probability of 23.66%.
The most likely scoreline for a Romania win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.81%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.52%) and 2-0 (9.49%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.86%), while for a North Macedonia win it was 0-1 (7.39%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 2.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Romania would win this match.
