The teams are in the weakest group of all, and neither of them would qualify from the others as - to be honest - both are rather mediocre teams even if there are Bundesliga players and superb Alaba at Austria, and a few seasoned professionals at tiny North Macedonia as well.

Austria have recently had a lot of luck in their group draws which explain why they are here in the first place, and why they rose to A group in the Nation's league. The form of 2021 represents their class rather well, they are 1-2-2 in their games, the sole win coming against minnows the Faroe Islands!

The likely lineup of Sclhlager/Alaba-Hinteregger-Dragovic-Lainer/Baumgarlinger-Grillitsch/Arnautovic-Sabitzer-Baumgartner/Kalajdzic

is not bad looking on paper, but looking at performances things change. Alaba is not as good as he was at Bayern Munich, he needs better players around him. Arnautovic was grear once, but have the two years in China done him any good? Sabitzer is not yet world class but an important part of Red Bull Leipzig. The keeper is the only starter from weak Austrian Bundesliga and lacks tough games, and there are also several talented but young players in the opening-11 which may be problematic if and when they get set-backs on the pitch, and the depth of the squad is not a good one!

Austria did beat North Macedonia twice in the qualification, the latter one at home by 2-1 with the lineup below, but now in Romania I do not see them much more than +50 % winners.

这两支球队都是小组中最弱的，而且没有一支能从其他球队中脱颖而出，老实说，这两支球队都是相当平庸的球队，即使他们有德甲球员和奥地利的阿拉巴，以及小国北马其顿的一些经验丰富的职业球员。

奥地利最近在小组抽签中运气很好，这就解释了他们为什么会在这里，以及为什么他们在国家联赛中上升到a组。2021年的表现很好地代表了他们的水平，他们在比赛中是1胜2平2负，唯一的胜利是击败法罗群岛!

不是纸面上看起来很差，而是看表现就会改变。阿拉巴已经不像在拜仁慕尼黑时那么好了，他需要更好的球员在他身边。阿纳托维奇曾经很伟大，但在中国的两年对他有好处吗?萨比策尔还不是世界级的，但却是莱比锡红牛的重要组成部分。这名门将是唯一一名来自弱旅奥地利甲的首发球员，他缺少大赛经验，在11号开赛阶段也有一些才华横溢但年轻的球员，如果他们在球场上遭遇挫折，这可能会是个问题，而球队的阵容深度也不是很好!

奥地利在预选赛中曾两次击败北马其顿，后一次是在主场2-1击败，但现在在罗马尼亚，我没有看到他们超过50%的胜率。

In this match North Macedonia are better prepared and with a better lineup, and the veteran Pandev has become truly their national hero and is likely to perform his last heroics in this historical competition.

The likely lineup here is

Dimitrevski/Ristovski-Musliu-Velkovski/Alioski-Ristovski/Ademi-Bardhi-Nikolov/Elmas-Pandev

The problems are in the defense, but there is a strong lineup, and strikers from Serie A who can score against any team. At Levante midfielder Bardhi have performed well, and even scored some witty goals like below the jumping wall from a long-distance free-kick!

No one is questioning the spirit of this small country of 2 million, not even the Germans any more after losing a World cup qualifier at home 1-2 only 3 months ago! In a bigger picture North Macedonia have lost only 3 of their 15 last games which has gone a bit unnoticed.

No, they are not going to win the cup, but if the get a point here I am not at all surprised.

在这场比赛中，北马其顿有了更好的准备和更好的阵容，老将潘德夫已经成为他们真正的民族英雄，并可能在这场历史性的比赛中上演他最后的英雄表演。

问题是在防守上，但我们有一个强大的阵容，意甲的前锋可以对任何球队进球。在莱万特，中场巴蒂表现出色，甚至打进了一些机智的进球，比如远距离任意球。

没人会质疑这个200万人口的小国的精神，就连3个月前在主场1-2输掉世界杯预选赛的德国人也不会质疑!从更大的角度来看，北马其顿队在过去的15场比赛中只输了3场，这一点已经被忽视了。

不，他们不会赢得奖杯，但如果他们在这里得到一分，我一点也不惊讶。