Italy v North Macedonia Betting Tips [24 March 2022]

In one of the biggest shocks of the World Cup qualifying campaign, defending European champions Italy find themselves at serious risk of missing out on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. They will have to get past a North Macedonia team that finished second to Germany in their qualifying group and then will have to face either Portugal or Turkey to book their ticket to Qatar. The Italians have only themselves to blame as they spurned two golden opportunities to go top of the group and avoid the playoff process altogether. Instead, a 1-1 draw in Rome against Switzerland followed up by a 0-0 draw away to Northern Ireland saw the Azzurri finish on 16 points and the Swiss qualify directly as group leaders with 18 points. The Italians remain one of the world’s most talented sides and enter this match as significant favorites despite the recent slump in form which has seen Roberto Mancini’s men win only two of their last seven.

Their opponents, North Macedonia, are on a good run of form and will look to spring what would be a massive upset in Palermo. Manager Igor Angelovski’s team are in a good vein of scoring form and have notched eight goals in their last two matches, a 5-0 thumping of Armenia and a 3-1 victory over Iceland in their most recent. The Red Lynxes finished the group stage qualifying with a record of five wins, three draws and two defeats and come into this match riding a two match winning streak and winning three of their last four. While they come into the match as huge underdogs, Angelovski’s side have only lost once since the European Championship ended and that was to a very strong Germany side. An entertaining encounter could be on the cards here and the visitors shouldn’t be counted out to find the net.