North Macedonia and Armenia will both be looking to respond after their respective defeats in European Championship qualifying when they meet in a friendly clash on Tuesday afternoon.

The hosts in Strumica lost against Ukraine last time out, whereas Armenia's hopes of reaching Germany next year took a massive hit in Latvia in their most recent match.

Match preview

North Macedonia suffered their third defeat of the Euro qualifying campaign on Saturday night with a 2-0 loss in Czechia against an in-form Ukraine outfit.

Blagoja Milevski's men went behind after 30 minutes because of a first-half strike from Georgiy Sudakov, and despite pushing for an equaliser, the visitors conceded again late on to confirm defeat, with Oleksandr Karavaev bagging only his second international goal.

The Lynxes are currently fourth in Group C of qualifying having collected seven points from their opening six matches, but a strong section containing England, Italy and the aforementioned Ukraine means a spot at next summer's showpiece tournament seems unlikely.

Napoli midfielder Eljif Elmas has stood up for North Macedonia so far this year, managing to bag three goals in Euro qualifying despite scoring just 17 times in 180 games for his club side.

Armenia possess an identical points tally and record to North Macedonia ahead of their friendly clash on Tuesday afternoon, having earned seven points from six matches in a group alongside Turkey, Wales, Croatia and Latvia.

The Havakakan's chances of booking their spot in Euro 2024 took a massive blow on Thursday night, when Armenia suffered a shock defeat to bottom side Latvia, who secured their first maximum of the qualification campaign.

Two goals either side of the half-time break from Janis Ikaunieks and Daniels Balodis downed the Oleksandr Petrakov's side in Riga, with Armenia unable to respond despite the hosts playing the final third of the contest with 10 men.

Armenia are winless in their last four friendly matches in a run stretching back to March 2022 - Joshua King scored a hat-trick as Norway put nine past Petrakov's men last year during a non-competitive game.

Team News

North Macedonia are expected to make a number of changes from the side who disappointingly lost against Ukraine on Saturday, meaning Bojan Dimoski and Burnley forward Darko Churlinov could be set for starts.

Elmas continues to play in a striking role for his nation, and it should be Aberdeen marksman Bojan Miovski who partners the Napoli man in a two-man forward line.

Armenia are also preparing to make a raft of alterations to their XI following the defeat in Latvia on Thursday night, with Styopa Mkrtchyan to be replaced by Taron Voskanyan in the visitors' backline.

Varazdat Haroyan is likely to keep his spot at centre-back, however, with Nair Tiknizyan and 19-year-old Georgii Arutiunian occupying the respective full-back roles.

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

Armenia possible starting lineup:
Cancarevic; Arutiunian, Voskanyan, Mkrtchyan, Tiknizyan; Spertsyan, Iwu, Dashyan; Barseghyan; Zelarayan, Briasco

We say: North Macedonia 2-1 Armenia

North Macedonia have their work cut out to qualify for next summer's Euros after being placed in a difficult group, but the Lynxes should be good enough to win on Tuesday afternoon.

Armenia were well below average as they lost at bottom side Latvia last time out, and we can envisage the visitors struggling at Stadion Blagoj Istatov in this one.


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