North Macedonia vs Iceland

North Macedonia host Iceland at National Arena Toshe Proeski for the last FIFA World Cup 2022 group stage match tonight. The stakes are high only for the hosts. Let's take a closer look..

Indeed, by winning this North Macedonia will placed second in this pretty balanced group behind Germany who have been in the class of their own - totally dominant. The hosts might earn a ticket in the qualification round even if they fail to win - depending on other matches - but I believe they go all the way to take all three points here. Well talking about Germany dominating - the did lose to North Macedonia in March 1-2! It was one of the biggest upsets in international football in recent years. I rate the hosts pretty clearly better than Iceland by raw class. North Macedonia, who even played pretty okay in the EURO 2020 last summer, have been on the rise in recent years whereas Iceland have been, in even at times pretty steep, decline. We must remember there are only some 300 000 people in Iceland and that they surely are not a traditional big football country. Macedonia are a a pretty small country too but all the countries in the Balkans have a strong, historical football tradition and great, patriotic fans. Iceland, as some of my fans probably remember, upset England in the EURO 2016 winning 2-1 but since then they have not shown that much at international level. They did, with quite a bit of luck, qualify for the 2018 World Cup though but only grabbed one point - a 1-1 draw versus Argentina and the point was a hugely undeserved one!

I strongly believe Iceland's upsets in the past still affect their valuation in the betting market - they have been clearly over-valued in many matches in this qualification group. I have of course watched all their matches and do not like the way play. Their offense is limited to say the least and defense is not very solid either, clearly weaker than 2-3 years ago. Their goal difference is 11:15. The hosts have played well in almost all of their matches in this group but have also struggled with scoring in some matches too, but still have a goal difference of 20:10 and were the better team when these two played in Iceland earlier this year with 55% ball possession and creating clearly more scoring attempts, shots on target, attacks and dangerous attacks. The motivation factor here is significant and the hosts have clearly over 60% chance to win!

North Macedonia -0.5 goals handicap is my pick to extend my great record in FIFA World Cup qualification matches and win again with my fans!

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

今晚，北马其顿将在托什·普罗斯基国家体育场迎战冰岛，这是2022年世界杯小组赛的最后一场比赛。只有主办国才会面临高风险。让我们仔细看看…

事实上，北马其顿获胜后，将在这个相当平衡的小组中排名第二，落后于德国，后者一直处于自己的级别，完全处于统治地位。东道主可能会在预选赛中获得一张门票，即使他们没有赢——这取决于其他比赛——但我相信他们会一路走好，在这里拿到全部三分。说到德国的统治地位，他们在3月1-2输给了北马其顿!这是近年来国际足球界最大的冷门之一。我给东道主的评分明显比冰岛高。北马其顿在去年夏天举行的2020年欧洲杯上表现不错，近年来一直在上升，而冰岛则在下降，有时甚至是急剧下降。我们必须记住，冰岛只有大约30万人口，他们肯定不是一个传统的足球大国。马其顿也是一个非常小的国家，但巴尔干半岛的所有国家都有悠久的足球传统和伟大的爱国球迷。我的一些球迷可能还记得，冰岛在2016年欧洲杯上以2-1击败了英格兰，但从那以后，他们在国际赛事上就没有那么多表现了。幸运的是，他们确实取得了2018年世界杯的出线资格，但只拿到了一分——1-1战平阿根廷，这一分非常不应该!

我坚信，冰岛过去的失利仍然影响着他们在博彩市场的估值——在这一预选赛组的许多比赛中，他们显然被高估了。我当然看了他们所有的比赛，不喜欢他们的比赛方式。他们的进攻至少可以说是有限的，防守也不是很稳固，明显比2-3年前弱。他们的净胜球差是11:15。东道主几乎他们所有的比赛打得好这组但也在得分在一些比赛,但仍有一个净胜球的20:10,更好的球队今年早些时候这两个在冰岛55%的球显然占有和创造更多的得分尝试,目标,攻击和危险的攻击。这里的动机因素很重要，东道主显然有超过60%的机会获胜!

北马其顿-0.5是我的选择，以延长我在国际足联世界杯预选赛的伟大记录，并再次赢得我的球迷!