STAR FOOTBALL PREVIEW Tue: Wales v North Macedonia

On paper the battle to qualify top from Group J has gone down to the wire but with Belgium to seal top spot with a home win over Liechtenstein, Wales and North Macedonia are in an effective scrap for second place, writes WILLIAM KEDJANYI.

It’s been tough to separate the pair during qualifying – both scored injury-time goals in March’s 1-1 draw in Skopje and they’ve got seven points from 13 games, albeit with the visitors having a much better goal difference, and we could be in for a tight and tense evening.

Whilst top spot is realistically off the table and both sides have given themselves a playoff spot thanks to their efforts in the 2024-25 Nations League, whoever finishes second has the potential of a home semi-final in the play-offs, which will provide plenty of motivation.

Home advantage goes a long way to explaining why Wales are favourites for victory with starsports.bet, but Craig Bellamy’s men will have to be a different side to the one that scraped past a Liechtenstein side ranked 206th in the world and predominantly comprised of part-time players on Saturday.

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Wales v North Macedonia
UEFA World Cup Qualifying Group I
19:45 BBC 3 / BBC One Wales / S4C HD / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport Website

LAST FIVE STATS

HEAD-TO-HEAD
MAR 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING North Macedonia 1-1 Wales
OCT 2013 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Wales 1-0 North Macedonia
SEP 2013 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING North Macedonia 2-1 Wales

WALES
NOV 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Liechtenstein 0-1 Wales
OCT 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Wales 2-4 Belgium
OCT 2025 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY England 3-0 Wales
SEP 2025 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Wales 0-1 Canada
SEP 2025 WORLD CUP Kazakhstan 0-1 Wales

NORTH MACEDONIA
NOV 2025 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY North Macedonia 0-0 Latvia
OCT 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING North Macedonia 1-1 Kazakhstan
OCT 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Belgium 0-0 North Macedonia
SEP 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING North Macedonia 5-0 Liechtenstein
JUN 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Kazakhstan 0-1 North Macedonia

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The hosts also have key absences to deal with, as suspensions mean that Ethan Ampadu and Saturday’s match-winner Jordan James miss out, whilst Ben Davies and Kieffer Moore are injured – so it’s fair to say that returning Fulham man Harry Wilson will play a key role for the hosts.

The reverse fixture proves that North Macedonia have the tools to make life difficult for Wales, whilst they boast the best defensive record in the group with just three goals conceded. Blagoja Milevski’s side have no fitness concerns ahead of tonight’s game and it would be no surprise if this was a slow burner, given that the visitors take second and a higher seeding if they avoid defeat.

Five of North Macedonia’s last eight games have ended as draws, so the prices on no goal and a 1-1 draw could give backers a good run for their money with starsports.bet.

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PROFIT/LOSS (NOV 2025): +2.83 points

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