North Macedonia vs Armenia
2 September 1945hrs
Football – International – World Cup Qualifier
Pick North Macedonia
Bookmaker Betfair
Odds: 8/13 odds taken 2000 GMT, Wednesday 1 September
Fresh off their first ever appearance at a major finals, North Macedonia face an Armenia team attempting to preserve their 100% record in Group J.
Table of Contents
North Macedonia Preview – Will a new era for North Macedonia begin with what would be an important three points?
The post-Goran Pandev era begins for North Macedonia as they attempt to go level on points with Armenia at the top of their World Cup qualifying section. Pandev has been a stalwart of this team for so long and also starred for them in the recent European Championships. Although exiting at the group stages North Macedonia can be proud of their efforts. They were in both games against Austria and Ukraine before eventually losing and despite going down 3-0 to Netherlands they also showed how developed they are as a footballing nation nowadays.
As well as the captain retiring, North Macedonia are also under new management. Igor Angelovski’s six year reign was also going to end after Euro 2020 and his replacement is former U21 coach Blagoja Milevski.
Milevski has the challenge of continuing the good start to this qualification campaign. North Macedonia are currently second in the section with six points from three games. Having lost their opening game away to Romania, they responded with a 5-0 win at home to Liechtenstein before a famous 2-1 against Germany, in Germany. It’s their greatest ever individual result and has them dreaming of a second straight qualification.
Whilst it’s been a good start that’s all it is and there remains a lot of challenges ahead. North Macedonia travel to Iceland after this match before the return game at home to Romania. We’ll get a better idea of how realistic their qualification hopes come full time next Wednesday.
Armenia Preview – Can Armenia continue their amazing run in this group and make it four straight wins?
If you had to select a team to be leading Group J after three games then Armenia would not have been within your top four picks. They finished second bottom in their section for Euro 2020 qualification and have never really come close to making it to a major finals.
They have shown some potential in recent times, though. Armenia did beat both Greece and Bosnia in that section and also topped their Nations League Group, finishing ahead of North Macedonia. That sees them promoted to League B which is another sign of the progression of Joaquin Caparros who has been in charge for 18 months.
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Armenia started this group with a 1-0 win away to the minnows Liechtenstein before two excellent home wins against Iceland and Romania. This next week will prove to be insightful as to where Armenia are in terms of their hopes of qualifying. Germany away will extremely tough to take points but a home game against Liechtenstein should be another opportunity for victory.
Henrikh Mkhitarayan is the leader and inspiration for this team. The attacker has started the season in excellent form for Roma but will missed all three of the previous qualifiers so should strengthen their chances even further.
North Macedonia vs Armenia Betting Advice
Key Facts – North Macedonia vs Armenia Betting Tip
- North Macedonia pulled off a famous win away to Germany earlier this year to boost qualification chances
- Armenia are the only team to have taken maximum points in this group after three games
- These nations have played each other four times in the last three years – the team playing at home as won each time
That sort of trend suggests there is little between the teams and as such I’m going to bank on it continuing on Thursday. North Macedonia should make home advantage count once again.
Best Betting Odds for North Macedonia vs Armenia
