At 02:45 Beijing time on March 30, the World Preliminary Round European Zone Play-off Group B Final, Portugal played against North Macedonia, CCTV5 live. This is this life-and-death battle, and the 37-year-old Ronaldo can't afford to lose.
Argentina have already secured their tickets to the Qatar World Cup in advance, and Messi is about to compete in five consecutive World Cups, equaling the records of Buffon and Mateus. The 37-year-old Ronaldo has also participated in 4 consecutive World Cups since 2006, and he is only one step away from his 5th World Cup.
Facing Turkey in the first leg of the World Preliminary Tournament play-offs, although Ronaldo did not score, his teammates gave a strong hand and finally defeated Turkey 3-1 to advance to the final. Now, Portugal only needs to beat the big dark horse North Macedonia to get a Ticket to the World Cup.
North Macedonia, with a population of just 2 million, just made history last year, and Euro 2020 is the first international competition in their history. If they eliminated italy and Portugal, two European champions in a row, and reached the World Cup final for the first time in their history, it would be another miracle in world football.
Of course, North Macedonia beat Italy 1-0 away from home, and they need to thank the three parallel strikers of Berardi, Inmobile and Insigne. North Macedonia was hit by Italy with 32 shots, but still could complete a clean sheet, italy's three big forwards contributed to it, these 3 people combined 18 shots in the whole game, especially Berardi, the highest 8 shots on goal 0 goals, but also wasted an empty goal.
Portugal's attacking line should not be so watery, their strikers are well-manned, and there are also good attackers such as B-seat and B-Fee in midfield. They scored 9 shots on target and scored 3 goals in just 19 shots against Turkey in the last round. If it has been beaten by Portugal, it is estimated that North Macedonia will not be able to hold it this time.
In the German Transfer Market, the total value of Portuguese players reached 780 million euros, while North Macedonia only had 64 million euros, a 12-fold gap between the two sides. Foreign media predict that the probability of Portugal eliminating North Macedonia to qualify for the World Cup is as high as 79%.
Portugal are certainly one-sided favourites, but North Macedonia is not so easy to deal with, especially in the away situation, they are really strong. In the past year, North Macedonia has been unbeaten in five away games with 4 wins and 1 draw, including consecutive victories over world powers such as Germany and Italy. Therefore, although Portugal has obvious advantages, it cannot be too light on the enemy.