World Cup 2022: previews and predictions for the qualifiers

Portugal’s 3-1 win over Turkey last week sounds comfortable, but they were fortunate the game did not go to extra time. Goals from Otávio and Diogo Jota gave Portugal a 2-0 lead at half time before Burak Yilmaz halved the deficit midway through the second half. Yilmaz had the chance to draw Turkey level from the spot with five minutes to go but fluffed his lines, hitting his penalty over the bar. Substitute Matheus Nunes wrapped up the victory for Portugal deep into injury time as Turkey chased an equaliser.

Portugal will welcome back João Cancelo on Tuesday after he was suspended for their semi-final win over Turkey. He is likely to take Diogo Dalot’s place in what may be Fernando Santos’ only change to the XI, with Danilo Pereira continuing alongside José Fonte at the back and Diogo Costa keeping his place between the sticks. Portugal have home advantage and Cristiano Ronaldo says he wants “hell breaking loose” inside the stadium.

North Macedonia sprung a massive upset when they beat Italy 1-0 in Palermo. Their goal endured an onslaught, as the European champions had 32 shots, but former Palermo forward Aleksandar Trajkovski struck in injury time to secure a momentous result that means Italy will miss out on a World Cup for the second successive tournament.

If North Macedonia qualify, this would be their first appearance at the World Cup. Blagoja Milevski’s side were without the suspended pair Eljif Elmas and Tihomir Kostadinov against Italy, though the duo should return to the midfield in Porto. Boban Nikolov was forced off against Italy and will be assessed. Bojan Miovski set up Trajkovski’s late winner and will be hoping to displace Milan Ristovski up front. Prediction: Portugal to qualify

Poland were given a bye