Preview: North Macedonia vs. Ukraine - prediction, team news, lineups

Sergiy Rebrov's men sit fourth in the section thanks to their opening loss to England, while their hosts saw off Malta by a 2-1 scoreline to start on the right foot.

Match preview

Fresh from their historic yet short-lived appearance at Euro 2020 and run to the World Cup qualifying playoff final - which ended in heartbreak against Portugal - North Macedonia have now been brought crashing back down to earth and then some.

Blagoja Milevski's team won just two of their six Nations League fixtures in 2022-23 to remain in Group C, but their attempts to make back-to-back Euros finals began in ideal fashion with a narrow triumph over Malta on March 23, where Eljif Elmas and Darko Churlinov made the net ripple.

The world's 65th-ranked nation were full value for that triumph - even if it was a gritty one - and they made it successive wins not long after with a 1-0 friendly beating of the Faroe Islands, although they had to wait until the 81st minute for Bojan Miovski's crucial contribution.

At this embryonic stage, North Macedonia are only behind Italy in the Group C standings on goal difference with a game in hand, but a taxing trip to England awaits Milevski's men three days after their showdown with Ukraine, who could become the hosts' fifth straight victim in Euro qualifying.

Indeed, the Lynxes have claimed four wins from their last four Euro qualifying matches against Israel, Kosovo, Georgia and Malta, but they have never won five in a row at this stage before, and Ukraine possessed a striking taste for goals in Bremen.

A chaotic 1,000th international game for Germany saw Hansi Flick's three-man defensive experiment begin horrendously, as Ukraine's pressing forced Die Mannschaft into costly errors while attempting to play out from the back, but Rebrov's men could not spoil the party completely.

Niclas Fullkrug propelled Germany into the ascendancy with just six minutes gone, but the hosts were soon stunned by two Viktor Tsygankov strikes either side of an Antonio Rudiger own goal, and Kai Havertz was once again called upon to save his side's bacon off the bench - cutting the deficit in half before winning a last-gasp penalty for Joshua Kimmich to fire home inside the final 10 minutes.

Ukraine more than capitalised on Germany's prolonged rearguard concerns at the Weserstadion and would do well to carry that attacking momentum forward into Friday's game, having begun their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with a 2-0 loss to England on March 26 courtesy of quickfire goals from Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka.

The visitors' exciting stalemate with Germany means that the Blue and Yellow - who also lock horns with Malta this month - have just one win to show from their last six games in all tournaments, but they had previously gone unbeaten in 10 Euro qualifying contests before their loss to England and are no strangers to success in this fixture.

Ukraine failed to win either of their first two meetings with North Macedonia in a pair of 2003 and 2004 friendlies, but they have since amassed a trio of wins at various points of the European Championship process, including a 2-1 triumph in the Euro 2020 group stage in Bucharest.

North Macedonia Euro Champ Qualifying form:

W

North Macedonia form (all competitions):

L

L

D

L

W

W

Ukraine Euro Champ Qualifying form:

L

Ukraine form (all competitions):

D

L

W

D

L

D

Team News

Two of North Macedonia's goalscorers from March's round of fixtures will not turn out for the Lynxes here, as Aberdeen attacker Miovski and Burnley winger Churlinov - who was recently hospitalised due to blood poisoning - have been left out of the squad.

Istanbulspor midfielder Valon Ethemi has also withdrawn due to an unspecified injury, but with Napoli's Elmas and Trabzonspor's Enis Bardhi boasting 23 international goals between them, Milevski should not have too many selection concerns in the engine room.

Twenty-goal attacker Aleksandar Trajkovski - North Macedonia's second-highest scorer of all time after Goran Pandev (38) - will expect to start up front alongside Udinese's Ilija Nestorovski, who has 10 strikes to show from 50 games for the national team.

As for Ukraine, Rebrov has no new injury worries to report from their six-goal spectacular with Germany, although Club Brugge striker Roman Yaremchuk was forced to leave the camp prior to that game due to injury.

The visiting manager should see little reason to disrupt the harmony after his side's valiant display in Bremen, where Shakhtar Donetsk duo Heorhiy Sudakov and Taras Stepanenko paired up in the middle in the absence of Arsenal's Oleksandr Zinchenko.

After nearly gifting Fullkrug the opening goal inside the first two minutes, Chelsea attacker Mykyahlo Mudryk redeemed himself with the shot that deflected off Rudiger and into the net for Ukraine's second, but the 22-year-old is still without a goal of his own in 10 games for his country.

North Macedonia possible starting lineup:

Dimitrievski; Velkovski, Zajkov, Musliu; Ristovski, Bardhi, Ademi, Alioski; Elmas; Nestorovski, Trajkovski

Ukraine possible starting lineup:

Trubin; Tymchyk, Zabarnyi, Matvienko, Mykolenko; Tsygankov, Stepanenko, Sudakov, Mudryk; Yarmolenko, Dovbyk

We say: North Macedonia 1-2 Ukraine

While Germany dominated the possession and shooting statistical columns against Ukraine, Rebrov's side punished their hosts' lackadaisical defending and can be relied upon to do the same against a waning North Macedonia outfit.

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