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North Macedonia vs Wales Prediction: Dragons Held At Bay In Skopje
Follow our football betting tips as Wales travel to North Macedonia in a 2026 World Cup qualifier on Tuesday
North Macedonia vs Wales Betting Tips
Wales travel to Skopje to face North Macedonia on Tuesday looking to make it maximum points from their opening two World Cup qualifiers (7.45pm, BBC iPlayer).
Craig Bellamy’s side beat Kazakhstan on Saturday, with goals from Daniel James, Ben Davies and Rabbi Matondo earning them a 3-1 win at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Their opponents also started their campaign with a win as they secured a 3-0 win away to Liechtenstein, with Aleksandar Trajkovski, Visar Musliu and Bojan Miovski all on target.
This is the third time the two sides have met and so far the head to head stands at one apiece. They met in 2013 in the qualifying stages for the 2014 World Cup, which neither team qualified for.
The first meeting ended in a 2-1 win for the hosts, despite Aaron Ramsey scoring from the penalty spot for Chris Coleman’s side.
They did get revenge a month later when Simon Church scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win in Cardiff, and current Wales boss Bellamy played the full 90 minutes in both games.
North Macedonia vs Wales Betting Preview: Minnows To Hold Firm
North Macedonia might only have a population of 1.8m and have never qualified for a World Cup as an independent state, but Blagoja Milevski's side should not be taken lightly.
Saturday’s victory was their fifth straight win without conceding a single goal, a run that saw them promoted to the second tier of the Nations League with a game to spare.
With Ramsey and Harry Wilson, who had scored in four of his last five international starts, both out injured there is a lot of pressure on Leeds star James and Brennan Johnson of Spurs, and they will have to be at their best if they are to break down the stubborn North Macedonia defence.
Football betting sides have Wales as the favourites for the win at 29/20, while you can get 43/20 on North Macedonia and a draw is 43/20.
This one is definitely not a foregone conclusion, and it may be best to sit on the fench and take the draw. The home side has a good goal threat, while their defence is tough to break down. Goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski has kept six consecutive clean sheets, which is a new national record.
North Macedonia vs Wales prediction 1: The game to end in a draw - 43/20 BetMGM
James To Provide The Biggest Threat
Daniel James has been in impressive form this season for his club Leeds and country, with 11 goals in 36 appearances - which has helped United to the top of the Championship table.
In total, in 32 league appearances he has been involved in 19 goals so far and has averaged 2.33 goals per game so he could be one to watch on Tuesday.
Betting sites price him at 19/2 to score first and 23/5 to score at any time, but the best option is 6/5 to have over 1.5 shots.
North Macedonia vs Wales tip: James to have over 1.5 shots - 6/5 Unibet
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