North Macedonia are battling Romania and Armenia for second place in World Cup qualifying Group J. Blagoja Milevski’s team has the inside track to qualification. North Macedonia are in second place in Group J with 15 points, one ahead of Romania and three in front of Armenia.
On Thursday night, North Macedonia took a massive step toward qualification to the UEFA World Cup playoffs with a resounding 5-0 win over Armenia. Now, on the final day of World Cup Group J qualification, North Macedonia’s future is in their hands.
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Iceland are eliminated from qualifying for the World Cup playoffs. However, the Icelanders can still play spoiler. Iceland are unbeaten in three straight matches in World Cup 2022 qualifying.
On Thursday night, they drew nil-nil with Romania in Bucharest, denting the Romanians chances of playoff qualification. The nil-nil draw with Romania allowed North Macedonia to move into second place in Group J.
North Macedonia’s 5-0 win against Armenia was powered by Levante midfielder Enis Bardhi. He had a hat-trick with two of the three goals coming from the penalty spot.
Milevski will need Bardhi’s skill at unlocking defences against Iceland. The Icelanders have conceded just one goal in their last three World Cup qualifiers. Back-to-back matches in World Cup qualifying have ended in clean sheets for Iceland.
North Macedonia’s squad could look the same against Iceland as it did versus Armenia. There isn’t much for Milevski to change for the fixture. He is without Goztepe player Adis Jahović, who pulled out of the international break due to injury.
Iceland coach Arnar Viðarsson should have a fully fit squad after Thursday’s nil-nil draw with Romania in Bucharest. He has no reason to alter the side for the match versus North Macedonia.
Iceland only kept 36% possession against Romania. They are likely to give North Macedonia the lion’s share of the ball on Sunday.
The reverse fixture between Iceland and North Macedonia finished 2-2. North Macedonia took a 2-0 lead into halftime thanks to goals from Darko Velkovski and Ezgjan Alioski.
Iceland came back to draw the match with two goals in the final 12 minutes from Brynjar Ingi Bjarnason and Andri Guðjohnsen. If North Macedonia fail to finish second in Group J, they will only need to look back on that capitulation for the reason why they missed the playoffs.
North Macedonia should fail to win once more versus Iceland on Sunday. It will be a close fixture, but like the reverse match, the game will finish in a score draw.