North Macedonia PM promises players €500,000 if they shock Portugal

PORTO, Portugal : North Macedonia's surprise win away to Italy in their World Cup playoff semi-final last week set up an unexpected clash against Portugal with the country's Prime Minister offering the squad €500,000 (US$549,300.00) if they reach the 2022 tournament.

The result shocked the soccer world and derailed a possible clash between the last two European champions Italy and Portugal, who both surprisingly missed out on automatically qualifying from the group stage for the World Cup in Qatar.

After the playoff draw the headlines were all about the expected drama of one of the two soccer powers missing out on the finals with so many top players in their squads and how a likely playoff showdown between them would be full of drama.

But North Macedonia did not follow the script and knocked four-time World Cup winners Italy out of contention.

Portugal meanwhile survived late drama in their playoff semi-final as they beat Turkey 3-1 after visiting striker Burak Yilmaz missed a penalty five minutes from the end that could have forced extra time at Porto’s sold-out Dragao stadium.

Italy did not have such luck in Palermo, losing 1-0 after an added time Aleksandar Trajkovski goal silenced the crowd at the Renzo Barbera stadium who watched in disbelief as the opposing bench ran onto the pitch to celebrate victory with the players.

North Macedonia, who featured at Euro 2020 in their first appearance at a major tournament since the break up of Yugoslavia three decades ago, will now face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in another packed stadium in Porto on Tuesday.

The 50,000 tickets for Tuesday's game at the Dragao stadium were sold out in a few hours amid huge expectation from local fans as Portugal bid for a place at the global