Winless teams Macedonia (0-1-0, 0 points) and Israel (0-1-0, 0 points) will look to gain their first victory in the Group G competitions of the 2018 FIFA World Cup UEFA qualifying tournament as they clash on Oct. 6, Thursday at the Philip II Arena in the Macedonian capital city of Skopje.
Start Time and Streaming Info
The game starts at 8:45 p.m. UTC+2. It can be viewed live Online Thru FuboTV.
Macedonia opened the tournament with a stinging 1-2 loss to Albania on the road at the Loro Boriçi Stadium in Shkodër on Sep. 5, as per Yahoo Sports.
After Albania forward Armando Sadiku opened the scoring at the ninth minute of the match, Lugano winger Ezgjan Alioski found the equalizer with a goal at the 51st minute to help head coach Igor Angelovski's side level the match against their higher-ranked opponents.
The Red Lynxes managed to keep the game tied since then until Albania forward Bekim Balaj hit a goal at the 89th minute off an assist by teammate Ledian Memushaj to snatch away the win and the three points away from the visitors in the overall standings.
Meanwhile, Israel was drubbed by tournament-favorites Italy, 1-3, at their own home field of Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa also on Sep. 5 to open their qualifiers stint with a loss, Goal reported.
Israel was caught off-guard by the Italians' strong start as Shandong Luneng forward Graziano Pellè scored the visitors' first goal at the 14th minute of the match with the assist coming from a cross by Milan defender Luca Antonelli. The lead was then doubled at the 31st with a penalty kick from Inter midfielder Antonio Candreva.
The Blue and Whites cut the lead to one point with a goal from Maccabi Tel Aviv winger Tal Ben Haim II four minutes later to enter the halftime interval trailing by 1-2.
However, head coach Elisha Levy's side went scoreless in the second half while Gli Azzurri scored another goal, this time by Lazio forward Ciro Immobile to seal the victory.
Prediction and Predicted Lineup
The predicted result is a close 2-1 decision for Israel.
Macedonia starting lineup (5-3-2 formation): Bogatinov; Ristovski, Mojsov, Shikov, Ristevski, Zhuta; Hasani, Stjepanovic, Spirovski; Alioski, Pandev
Israel starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Goresh; B. Bitton, Tibi, Tzedek, Davidzada; Buzaglo, N. Bitton, Cohen; Ben Haim II, Hemed, Zahavi