North Macedonia visit Liechtenstein at the Rheinpark Stadion in Vaduz on Friday, looking for their third win of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
With nine points from six games, the Lions are fourth in Group J, but still very much alive in the race for the Qatar showpiece.
Following their historic debut at Euro 2020, the Balkan nation have found life difficult without their legendary skipper Goran Pandev, who retired after the tournament.
Successive draws to Armenia, Iceland and Romania have stalled their progress, having started the campaign off with back-to-back wins, including a stunning 2-1 reverse in Germany.
They will be confident of returning to form against Liechtenstein, who're ranked 188th in the world and haven't won any of their six qualifying matches.
The only good result for them so far has been a 1-1 draw against Armenia in their last outing which arrested their five-game losing run.
Liechtenstein vs North Macedonia Head-To-Head
North Macedonia have never lost to Liechtenstein in 10 previous clashes, winning nine.
Their incredible record includes a 5-0 drubbing when the sides met for the first leg in March.
Official photographer for Liechtenstein national football team during their stay in Romania ⚽️📸 https://t.co/2ZD09Vjgc2
Liechtenstein Form Guide (all competitions): L-L-L-L-D
North Macedonia From Guide (all competitions): L-L-D-D-D
Liechtenstein vs North Macedonia Team News
Liechtenstein
Head coach Martin Stocklasa has named a big squad that features most of their key players.
Veterans including Daniel Kaufmann, Seyhan Yildiz, Martin Buchel and skipper Nicolas Hasler have all been summoned.
There are six uncapped players, half of whom are goalkeepers, while Yanik Frick, who's currently without a club, is likely to lead the line for them.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
26 players were called up for next month's World Cup qualifiers against Liechtenstein (8 October) and Germany (11 October)Erdal Rakip is a new name (finally granted approval by FIFA), and Arijan Ademi returns from injury. All the other lads below featured on the prior squad too https://t.co/Qp1PfjBB8P
North Macedonia
With talismanic scorer Goran Pandev no longer around, the Lions will depend more on Aleksandar Trajkovski for goals.
He was on target against Liechtenstein on the opening day, netting twice, but hasn't found the net in the qualifiers ever since.
Budding stars like Milan Ristovski and the uncapped Bojan Miovski are gearing up to rise to the fore.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Liechtenstein vs North Macedonia Predicted XI
Liechtenstein (5-3-2): Benjamin Buchel; Sandro Wolfinger, Andreas Malin, Daniel Kaufmann, Jens Hofer, Maximilian Goppel; Noah Frick, Noah Frommelt, Nicolas Hasler; Yanik Frick, Aron Sele.
North Macedonia (4-4-2): Stole Dimitrievski; Stefan Ristovski, Darko Velkovski, Ezgjan Alioski, Gjoko Zajkov; Elif Elmas, Boban Nikolov, Stefan Spirovski, Darko Churlinov; Milan Ristovski, Aleksandar Trajkovski.
Liechtenstein vs North Macedonia Prediction
Liechtenstein are probably going to use the back-five formula which worked so well against Germany and Romania. Both sides were made to work really hard for their wins because of that.
North Macedonia can expect a tough contest too. But having never lost to Liechtenstein, and possessing some good attacking options, the visitors are likely to come away with all three points.
Prediction: Liechtenstein 0-2 North Macedonia
