Back
Aron Wright - June 1, 2021
North Macedonia vs Kazakhstan
International Friendly
Date: Friday, 4 June 2021
Kick-off at 17:00 UK/ 18:00 CET
Venue: Philip II Arena.
North Macedonia are ranked 62nd in the world, as opposed to Kazakhstan, who are ranked 124th. The former are also on a good run at home, and have been scoring well. Kazakhstan, who are a poor run, are easily the underdogs this Friday.
Macedonia are a part of the League C in the Nations League, and they missed out on promotion by a whisker this season. They were trailing just two points behind toppers, Armenia, who got promoted. However, Macedonia did score the most number of goals in the group.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan were placed dead-last in Group 4 of League C in the UNL, and now are about to take part in the relegation playoffs, to avoid getting boot to the bottom-most League D.
They had conceded the most number of goals in the group, and had scored the least. Note that they also had a total of just one win all through this campaign.
Going on, North Macedonia had finished third in Group G in the recently-concluded Euro Qualifiers, and thus secured an entry to the playoffs semis.
Later, they defeated Kosovo in the semis, and recorded a 0-1 win over Georgia in the final. Thus, the team secured a ticket to the coveted Euros – a major achievement for the nation.
In the meantime, Kazakhstan had finished second to last in Group I, and thus failed to make it to the Euros. Interestingly, the team that had finished last in the Group was San Marino – the worst team in the world, as per the FIFA list.
By the looks of things, expect a North Macedonia victory this Friday.
Macedonia were unbeaten in 11 of their last 13 overall fixtures, and they had scored a total of 11 goals from their former four games. At home, they are on an eight-fixture unbeaten streak, and of these, seven were wins.
On the other hand, their counterparts are on an eight-match winless run, and they were winless in 13 of their 15 games as well. Moreover, they also have a total of just three wins on the road in the past five-year period.
Taking into account these observations, expect a North Macedonia victory this Friday at the Philip II Arena.
