PORTUGAL and North Macedonia will both aim to seal their passage to the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar when they do battle in Tuesday's play-off semi-final at the Estadio do Dragao.
The Selecao moved one step closer to this year's winter showpiece with a well-deserved 3-1 semi-final victory over Turkey on Thursday night.
Fernando Santos' side now turn their attention to Tuesday night's final with a North Macedonia team who have already shown that they are capable of a giant killing
Last time out, Aleksandar Trajkovski’s last-gasp strike earned the Lynxes a famous 1-0 win over Italy in Palermo.
That means the unthinkable has happened for Italy, who will now sit out a second successive World Cup, having also missed out on a place in the 2018 edition in Russia.
After pulling off the shock of the semi-final round, claiming the scalp of another international heavyweight at their own ground will surely be a mouth-watering prospect for Igor Angelovski's charges.
Outright Betting
After taking care of Turkey last time out, Portugal head into this play-off final as red-hot 2/9 (SBK) favourites.
Despite their heroics in Palermo on Thursday night, North Macedonia enter the Estadio do Dragao as rank outsiders at 33/2 (SBK) while the 90 minute draw is also deemed unlikely at 28/5 (SBK) with the same firm.
Betting Angles
You won't get rich backing the hosts at the aforementioned odds and it's therefore a case of having to get creative to eke out a decent price with a view to getting Portugal onside.
As such, I'll head to Bet 365's Bet Builder market and combine Portugal Half Time/Full Time and under six match goals at 20/23 (Bet 365).
Whilst North Macedonia are rapidly gaining a reputation for their giant-killings, they undoubtedly rode their luck at times when upsetting Italy in the previous round.
What's more, it would be fair to say that Portugal's attacking options are superior to that of the Azzurri, and the formidable arsenal in their armoury should fire them to another victory on Tuesday night.
With a passionate Estadio do Dragao crowd behind them, Santos' side are likely to come flying out of the blocks for this one and they are capable of bringing North Macedonia back down to earth with a bump.
With this in mind, coupled with the fact that aforementioned Bet Builder banked in Thursday's semi-final triumph over Turkey, I'm more than happy to support the same formula during this make-or-break final on Tuesday night
I'll also dip into Paddy Power's “Power Prices” market and have a speculative punt on Cristiano Ronaldo to score a header at 10/1 (PaddyPower).
The Portuguese icon has always had a knack of stealing the show on the big occasion, and after failing to strike last time out, he's a tempting play to score a trademark header at a tasty 10/1 (PaddyPower).
This World Cup match between Portugal and North Macedonia will be played on Mar 29, 2022 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Portugal vs North Macedonia prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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