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Macedonia U21 – Portugal U21 (Euro U21 2017)

The national teams of Macedonia U21 and Portugal U21 will face each other this Friday at Stadion GOSiR, in Gdynia, for the 3rd round of Group B of the Euro U21 2017. The Macedonian national team has shown that they seem to be the weaker side of this Group B, and after a heavy defeat against Spain and a draw against Serbia, they are at the bottom of this Group. The Portuguese national team, on their turn, couldn’t resist the amazingly talent of the spaniards and ended up being defeated, which now complicates the qualification for the semi-finals, although it is still possible.

Macedonia are at the bottom of this Group B with 1 point, result of 1 draw and 1 defeat, with 2 goals scored and 7 goals conceded. Any realistic hopes Macedonia had of reaching the knockout phase of the competition ended when they conceded a stoppage time equaliser against Serbia, in their last match. Now they play for pride. The Red Lions also suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Spain, losing by 5-0, and now face another very talented national team. This national squad doesn’t have, yet, very known players, since most of them play in the top tier of Macedonian football.

In their last 5 matches, Macedonia has a record of 3 victories, 1 draw and 1 defeat. This sequence of results started with a 0-1 win against Scotland. This result was followed by a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland, a 2-0 win over Scotland, a 5-0 defeat against Spain, and in their last match, a 2-2 draw against Serbia.

Probable Lineup: Aleksovski – Murati, Velkoski, Zajkov and Demiri – Bardhi and Nikolov – Radeski, Babunski and Markoski – Angelov.

Portugal, on their turn, are 2nd placed in this Group B with 3 points, result of 1 victory and 1 draw, with 3 goals scored and 3 goals conceded. The Portuguese national team entered in the competition with their right foot, wining 2-0 against Serbia, but ended up being defeat against Spain, which now complicates their chances of progressing to the knockout phase. However, the Hopes still have a good chance of going through as the best runners up, but must put their 3-1 defeat against Spain behind them and perform very good here.

They are favorites and should follow in Spain’s lead in thrashing Macedonia. Talent is something very present in this squad, and in spite of their young age some of the players are already playing for some great european clubs, such as João Cancelo and Rúben Semedo, Valencia and Villarreal, Renato Sanches, Bayern Munich, Gonçalo Guedes and Bruma, PSG and Leipzig. Head coach Rui Jorge will certainly be able to convey confidence and motivation to his pupils so they enter in the match hungry for goals.

In their last 5 matches, Portugal has a record of 3 victories, 1 draw and 1 defeat. This sequence of results started with a 1-1 draw against Netherlands, friendly match. This result was followed by a 3-1 win over Norway, friendly, a 0-1 win over Germany, friendly, a 2-0 win over Serbia, and in their last clash, a 3-1 defeat against Spain. Bruno Fernandes and Rúben Semedo are both out due to suspension.

Probable Lineup: Varela – Cancelo, Lé, Figueiredo and Rodrigues – Sanches, Neves and Carvalho – Guedes, Podence and Bruma.

Portugal won 6 of their 7 direct confronts, drawing the remaining.

Expect a very strong performance from Rui Jorge’s men, who will try to score the first goal very early, so it won’t be a surprise if they reach the half-time already with a comfortable advantage.