Two nations who made their major tournament debuts at Euro 2020 face off in a friendly fixture at the Tose Proeski National Arena in Skopje on Thursday as North Macedonia play host to Finland.
This fixture is the penultimate friendly for both nations before the year comes to a close, as neither will be competing at the 2022 World Cup later this month.
Match preview
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North Macedonia marginally missed out on a place in Qatar after they suffered a 2-0 defeat against Portugal in a qualifying playoff final, shortly after claiming a historic 1-0 triumph over four-time world champions Italy in the playoff semi-finals.
The Red Lynxes previously impressed in Group J of UEFA qualifying, finishing second behind group winners Germany with 18 points after 10 games. Indeed, a shock 2-1 away victory over Die Mannschaft was their standout result during the campaign.
After losing to Portugal in March, Blagoja Milevski's side endured an inconsistent Nations League campaign between June and September. North Macedonia initially made a decent start, accumulating seven points from a possible 12 available, but back-to-back defeats without scoring against Georgia and Bulgaria forced them to settle for third place in League C Group 4.
A third successive loss was inflicted on the Red Lynxes by Saudi Arabia, who won 1-0 – courtesy of an 85th minute winner from Saleh Al-Shehri – in a friendly encounter towards the end of October.
North Macedonia's last meeting on home soil against Finland was back in August 2005 when they suffered a 3-0 home defeat in World Cup qualifying, a result that they intend to avoid on Thursday.
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Unlike North Macedonia, Finland were unable to advance to the playoff rounds in 2022 World Cup qualifying after they finished third in Group D, just one point behind Ukraine in second place and seven behind group winners France.
The Eagle-owls accumulated 11 points after winning three and drawing two of their eight matches, picking up two points more than the previous campaign four years ago despite having played two games fewer.
Markku Kanerva – who is approaching his sixth year as Finland manager – has since guided his side to only two victories in their last eight international matches across all competitions. Both of which were against Montenegro in League B Group 3 of the Nations League, including a 2-0 away victory in their most recent fixture at the end of September.
Finland are ranked 56th in the world by FIFA, nine places higher than North Macedonia, and they head into Thursday's contest unbeaten in their last three meetings against them, including a 5-1 home victory back in September 2009 and a goalless friendly draw in March 2018.
Team News
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North Macedonia midfielder Enis Bardhi won his 50th international cap in September and he is expected to line up in the middle of the pitch on Thursday alongside Stefan Spirovski and Napoli's Elif Elmas.
Captain Stefan Ristovski, Boban Nikolov, Kire Ristevski and David Babunski were all left out of Milevski's squad for September's international break, but they have returned this time around and will be in contention to feature against Finland.
Burnley's Darko Churlinov is one of four players along with Arijan Ademi, Tihomir Kostadinov and Dejan Iliev who are ruled out with injuries.
As for Finland, Rangers' Glen Kamara and Augsburg's Fredrik Jensen are both ruled out with leg injuries, while all-time record goalscorer Teemu Pukki has been given time off away from the international scene following a hectic schedule with Norwich City.
Lucas Lingman and Kaan Kairinen could line up in centre-midfield in the absence of Kamara and Jensen, while Marcus Forss may join Joel Pohjanpalo in attack.
Anssi Suhonen, Niilo Maenpaa, Diogo Tomas and Tuomas Ollila are all hoping to win their first international cap.
North Macedonia possible starting lineup:
Dimitrievski; S. Ristovski, Ristevski, Velkovski, Musliu, Alioski; Spirovski, Bardhi, Elmas; Miovski, Velkovski
Finland possible starting lineup:
Hradecky; Alho, Vaisanen, Ivanov, O'Shaughnessy, Ollila; Kairinen, Soiri, Lingman; Pohjanpalo, Forss
We say: North Macedonia 1-1 Finland
Both North Macedonia and Finland have struggled for consistency in recent months, so Thursday's contest is a difficult one to call.
With Finland resting their talisman Pukki, North Macedonia may do enough to come away with a draw on home soil.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
