With the chance to secure their first-ever promotion to League B, North Macedonia will welcome Latvia to Tose Proeski Arena for a UEFA Nations League C contest on Thursday night.
The Lions recorded back-to-back victories during October's international break to pull ahead of the pack in League C Group 4, whilst the Wolves' unlikely promotion push suffered two blows.
Match preview
© Imago
Following a five-game winless streak across friendlies and the opening of their Nations League campaign at the start of the calendar year, North Macedonia have returned to their form of the early 2020s in sensational fashion, winning three straight matches in Group C4.
Arguably their closest competitors for top spot in the four-team section and automatic promotion to League B, Armenia were no match for the Lions last time out on October 13, when second-half strikes from Girona marksman Bojan Miovski and veteran midfielder Isnik Alimi secured a 2-0 success in Yerevan.
With two matches left to play in Group C4, North Macedonia are sitting pretty at the summit of the section standings, six points ahead of Armenia and Latvia in second and third respectively, meaning that a point on Thursday would be enough to ensure that the hosts feature in League B of the Nations League during its next edition.
The statistics certainly point towards the Lions getting the job done on Thursday night, with Blagoja Milevski's troops unbeaten across two home fixtures so far in 2024, sharing the honours in a friendly with Moldova in March before beating Armenia 2-0 in the Nations League in September.
Highlighting their development as a footballing nation over recent years, North Macedonia started down in League D during the first-ever running of the Nations League back in 2018-19, when European minnows such as Gibraltar and Liechtenstein were amongst the opponents for Igor Angelovski's men.
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Also plying their trade in the bottom division of the Nations League in the past, Latvia endured a tricky October international window in which they failed to earn their second win of the competition, collecting just the single point across matches against North Macedonia and bottom side Faroe Islands.
The Wolves struggled massively for control of the contest in Streymoy last time out against the Faroe Islands, who fired themselves into a first-half lead courtesy of a strike from Hanus Sorensen, but the visitors were able to force a share of the spoils thanks to Dario Sits's second-period effort.
Winning only one of their opening four matches in Group C4, Latvia are currently occupying third place in the section table, meaning that it looks set to be a battle with second-placed Armenia for a shot at promotion to League B via the Nations League playoffs in March.
Enduring a 10-game winless run on the road across friendly and competitive fixtures, those of a Latvian persuasion will watch on in hope more than expectation on Thursday night, with the Wolves' most recent away victory arriving at Liechtenstein during a promotion-winning Nations League D campaign back in June 2022.
Latvia have struggled massively against North Macedonia over the last decade, with the Lions recording four straight wins in this fixture stretching back to March 2014, including a three-goal success last month in Riga, where RB Leipzig star Eljif Elmas found the net.
Team News
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North Macedonia are without the services of defender Visar Musliu, with the Bundesliga 2 player suffering a broken ankle in the middle of October.
As a result, the Lions are even more likely to continue with the back four that kept a clean sheet in Armenia last time out, meaning that Nikola Serafimov and Gjoko Zajkov should operate as the centre-back pairing.
Managing three straight shutouts for his nation as they close in on Nations League promotion, Valencia's Stole Dimitrievski will provide a sprinkling of top-tier quality in between the sticks for the hosts.
After bagging the equaliser off the bench against the Faroe Islands, Parma youngster Sits could be promoted to the starting XI for Latvia.
With talisman Janis Ikaunieks expected to retain his spot in the side, Roberts Uldrikis will need to drop out of the team if head coach Paolo Nicolato wishes to deploy Sits from the start.
North Macedonia possible starting lineup:
Dimitrievski; Velkovski, Zajkov, Serafimov, Alioski; Bardhi, Alimi, Kostadinov; Dimoski, Elmas, Miovski
Latvia possible starting lineup:
Matrevics; Cernomordijs, Tobers, Balodis, Jurkovskis; Zelenkovs, Saveljevs, Varslavans, Ciganikis; Ikaunieks, Sits
We say: North Macedonia 2-0 Latvia
Possessing the opportunity to secure Nations League promotion in front of their home crowd on Thursday night, North Macedonia will be raring to dispatch Latvia in Skopje.
The Wolves are poor travellers and after scraping a draw at the Faroe Islands last month, we do not expect Nicolato's side to earn a shock result at Tose Proeski Arena.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Carter White
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