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Malta national football team
Euro Champ Qualifying | Group Stage
Sep 12, 2023 at 7.45pm UK
Ta'Qali National Stadium
North Macedonia national football team

Malta
0 - 2
N. Macedonia


Teuma (27'), Borg (39'), Camenzuli (66')
FT(HT: 0-2)
Elmas (5'), Manev (41')
Shishkovski (85'), Manev (87')

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

Sports Mole previews Tuesday's Euro Champ Qualifying clash between Malta and North Macedonia, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

North Macedonia will look to claim the second win of their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign when they travel to Ta'Qali for Tuesday's meeting with Malta.

While the visitors sit in fourth position, Malta are located at the foot of Group C after suffering four consecutive qualifying defeats.


Match preview

Malta coach Michele Marcolini on March 23, 2023© Reuters

Ranked in 171st place in the FIFA World Rankings, Malta knew prior to the campaign that qualifying for their first major tournament was highly unlikely.

Nevertheless, they will still be disappointed with the fact that they are yet to pick up a point after losing their first four matches by a combined 9-1 scoreline.

As a result, Malta have now lost their last 13 matches in European Championship qualifying since beating the Faroe Islands 2-1 in March 2019.

While that run of form will be a cause for concern, Malta would have taken some confidence from Wednesday's 1-0 friendly victory over Gibraltar thanks to Joseph Mbong's second-half strike.

They will now turn their attention back to competitive action, as they look to pull off a surprise result and win a European Championship qualifier for just the third time in the 21st century.

North Macedonia coach Blagoja Milevski before the match on June 19, 2023© Reuters

North Macedonia are hoping to claim the second win of their qualifying campaign against the same team that they recorded their first victory against.

After getting off to a positive start with a 2-1 win over Malta, they were stopped in their tracks by consecutive defeats to Ukraine and England.

The 7-0 hammering at the hands of Gareth Southgate's Three Lions would have dented confidence among the North Macedonian squad, but they restored a sense of belief on Saturday when they held the European champions Italy to a point in Skopje.

They appeared to be heading towards defeat when Ciro Immobile put Italy in front inside the opening two minutes of the second half, but North Macedonia's captain Enis Bardhi proved to be his country's hero, producing a sensational free kick in the 81st minute to ensure that the spoils were shared.

With North Macedonia currently three points adrift of second-placed Ukraine, they will view Tuesday's contest as a must-win game if they are to harbour realistic ambitions of reaching consecutive European Championship Finals.

Malta Euro Champ Qualifying form:


Malta form (all competitions):


North Macedonia Euro Champ Qualifying form:


North Macedonia form (all competitions):



Team News

North Macedonia's Eljif Elmas celebrates scoring their first goal with Bojan Miovski on March 23, 2023© Reuters

Reims midfielder Teddy Teuma is expected to come into the side after he was left out of the starting lineup for the win over Gibraltar as Michele Marcolini kept one eye on Tuesday's Euro 2024 qualifier.

Cain Attard, who plays for Portuguese side Belenenses, was an unused substitute in Wednesday's friendly, but he is in contention to start against North Macedonia.

Kyrian Nwoko is expected to feature in the forward line, and the 26-year-old will be looking to add to the four goals that he has scored for his country.

As for the visitors, they are without the services of Darko Churlinov, Valon Ethemi and Marjan Radeski, who all withdrew from the initial squad due to injury issues.

After producing a battling display to take a point off Italy on Saturday, North Macedonia boss Blagoja Milevski is set to name an unchanged lineup for Tuesday's away trip.

Trabzonspor's Bardhi will provide an obvious goal threat after netting three goals in his last two games for club and country.


Malta possible starting lineup:
Bonello; J. Mbong, Z. Muscat, S. Borg, J. Borg, Camenzuli; Guillaumier, Teuma, Attard; Jones, Nwoko

North Macedonia possible starting lineup:
Dimitrievski; Musliu, Zajkov, Manev; Ashkovski, Atanasov, Elezi, Alisoki; Bardhi; Miovski, Elmas


SM words green background

We say: Malta 0-2 North Macedonia

Despite taking confidence from Wednesday's friendly win over Gibraltar, Malta will be fully aware that Tuesday's opponents represent a significant step up in quality.

North Macedonia claimed a narrow victory in the previous meeting between the two nations, and we think that they will draw upon that experience to clinch all three points at the Ta'Qali National Stadium.



For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.


Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:data


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Game History

How you voted: Malta vs N. Macedonia

Malta
10.4%
Draw
20.8%
North Macedonia
68.8%
77
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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
1 Cyprus Cyprus00000
2 Georgia Georgia00000
3 Norway Norway00000
Q Scotland flag Scotland00000
Q Spain Spain00000

Group B

TeamPWDLPTS
Q France France00000
2 Gibraltar flag Gibraltar00000
3 Greece Greece00000
Q Netherlands Netherlands00000
5 Ireland Rep. Ireland00000

Group C

TeamPWDLPTS
Q England flag England00000
Q Italy Italy00000
3 Malta flag Malta00000
4 Macedonia N. Macedonia00000
5 Ukraine Ukraine00000

Group D

TeamPWDLPTS
1 Armenia Armenia00000
Q Croatia Croatia00000
3 Latvia Latvia00000
Q Turkey Turkey00000
5 Wales flag Wales00000

Group E

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Albania national flag Albania00000
Q Czech Republic Czech Republic00000
3 Faroe Islands Faroe Islands00000
4 Republic of Moldova Moldova00000
5 Poland Poland00000

Group F

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Austria Austria00000
2 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan00000
Q Belgium Belgium00000
4 Estonia Estonia00000
5 Sweden Sweden00000

Group G

TeamPWDLPTS
1 Bulgaria Bulgaria00000
Q Hungary Hungary00000
3 Lithuania Lithuania00000
4 Montenegro Montenegro00000
Q Serbia Serbia00000

Group H

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Denmark Denmark00000
2 Finland Finland00000
3 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan00000
4 Northern Ireland flag N. Ireland00000
5 San Marino flag San Marino00000
Q Slovenia Slovenia00000

Group I

TeamPWDLPTS
1 Andorra flag Andorra00000
2 Belarus Belarus00000
3 Israel Israel00000
4 Kosovo flag Kosovo00000
Q Romania Romania00000
Q Switzerland Switzerland00000

Group J

TeamPWDLPTS
1 Bosnia Bosnia H'vina00000
2 Iceland Iceland00000
3 Liechtenstein flag Liechtenstein00000
4 Luxembourg flag Luxembourg00000
Q Portugal Portugal00000
Q Slovakia Slovakia00000


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