N orth Macedonia arrive at Old Trafford for Monday’s Euro 2024 qualifier against England as underdogs but should not be underestimated.
Just ask Germany and Italy, who faced them in the last World Cup qualifiers and suffered home defeats. When North Macedonia qualified for Euro 2020, it could be argued they did so only thanks to a new Uefa invention that allowed countries to get there via the Nations League.
The team from a Balkan state with a population of 2 million topped a group in section D – the lowest of the lot – that also contained Armenia, Liechtenstein and Gibraltar, then beat Kosovo and Georgia in the playoffs.
But North Macedonia have proved they can mix it with the best. Although they lost all their games at Euro 2020 (3-1 to Austria, 2-1 to Ukraine and 3-0 to the Netherlands) they fought bravely and played some good football, with performances better than results.