North Macedonia and Moldova meet in neutral Turkey for an international friendly at the Mardan Sports Complex in Antalya on Friday night.
Both nations have made huge strides in the 2020s after decades in the wilderness following independence, but neither will compete at Euro 2024 this summer.
Match preview
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After reaching a maiden major tournament at Euro 2020, North Macedonia missed out on the upcoming edition after being drawn in a devilishly difficult group.
Facing Euro 2020 finalists England and Italy, as well as quarter-finalists Ukraine, offered almost zero hope of finishing in the top two, as they were unfortunate to still be fourth seeds for that section considering they finished second in their 2022 World Cup qualifying group, which included Germany and Romania.
Unsurprisingly, the Macedonians were unable to oust England or Italy, but they did hold both of those powerhouses to draws on home soil, as it was home and away defeats to Ukraine which cost them dearly.
The next edition of the UEFA Nations League will provide North Macedonia with an opportunity to show that they remain a rapidly improving nation, as they will be the favourites for promotion to League B in a group including Latvia, Armenia and the Faroe Islands.
That will greatly help their bid to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, but they did let themselves down in the Nations League campaign, taking just one point from four games against Georgia and Bulgaria.
Claiming a first-ever win over Moldova here will suggest they are worthy of the favourites tag in that upcoming section though.
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The three previous meetings between these sides have all ended in draws, with the last being a friendly back in 2009, after the two had met in qualifying for the 2002 World Cup.
Moldova will be no pushovers though for an improving North Macedonia, as they themselves have made remarkable improvements in the last two years.
After taking just one point from 10 games in 2022 World Cup qualifying, and losing friendlies to Uganda and Azerbaijan, Serghei Clescenco's men were one win away from a spot at the Euro 2024 finals.
After taking four points off Poland, and holding top two Albania and Czech Republic to draws, Moldova knew that if they could go away to the Czechs and win on matchday 10 they would qualify, but they ultimately lost 3-0, as it proved one step too far.
Remaining competitive against a good North Macedonia will be the order of the day here, before a very intriguing clash with one of the world's lowest-ranked nations, the Cayman Islands, next week, where a big win is expected of them.
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Team News
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Blagoja Milevski's squad looks very similar to the one which was selected back in November, but Arijan Ademi is no longer with the camp after his international retirement late last year.
The retirement of Stefan Ristovski has also opened up a spot for another defender, and the in-form Darko Velkovski has taken that chance with some fine performances for Dinamo Bucharest, reclaiming a spot in the squad, and he could hit 50 caps this week if he plays in both friendlies.
Elsewhere, Erdon Daci has been a late withdrawal due to injury, joining Isnik Alimi and Valon Ethemi on the sidelines.
A few players have dropped out of the Moldova squad since November's fixtures after remaining almost unchanged for the entire qualifying section.
Veteran defenders Ion Jardan and Vadim Bolohan are not present, meaning there is a call-up for Victor Mudrac, despite an extremely left-field move to join Brunei club DPMM FC in January.
Ion Nicolaescu is the star player in the squad, as he scored three in two games against Poland during qualifying, plus a strike away to Sweden in a friendly in October.
North Macedonia possible starting lineup:
Dimitrievski; Manev, Serafimov, Musliu; Dimoski, Bardhi, Atanasov, Elezi, Alioski; Miovski, Elmas
Moldova possible starting lineup:
Railean; Revenco, Craciun, Baboglo, Posmac, Reabciuk; Postolachi, Rata, Ionita, Motpan; Nicolaescu
We say: North Macedonia 2-0 Moldova
Moldova will do well to replicate the heroics of their squad across Euro 2024 qualifying, despite falling short, and the hosts will come into this one as comfortable favourites.
Home draws with Italy and England in the past 12 months, as well as scoring twice away to the Azzurri, suggests North Macedonia are still a threat like they were heading into Euro 2020, and they will expect to win here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
