Iceland vs Macedonia FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Group 9 Wednesday 15th Oct 2008 KO 19:00 Ground: Laugardalsvollur, Reykjavik
Iceland meets Macedonia on Wednesday evening for this important match for both teams and especially for Macedonia on the way to a possible place for World Cup 2010.
Iceland
Iceland will probably try to get something out of this match, and if does not succeed than this campaign will be done for them. I watched them against Holland this Saturday and didn`t impressed me at all with their technique and the team work, but also they run a lot and it seems that counter attacks is their main weapon. In my opinion, the defenders are the best part of the squad, play a bit dirty but seem strong and experienced. Eidur Smári Gudjohnsen will be Icelandic main weapon but he has to have some support from behind in order to do something, it seems to me that he is lacking more matches to be fully in form. Hermann Hreidarsson (Portsmouth) will be the player with task to mark SS Lazio striker Pandev, and I think he did a good job on Saturday was highest ranked player on the pitch for Iceland. There are no major injuries or suspensions for Iceland for this match. Maybe the team will be slightly tired from the exhausting match with Holland, and on the other hand Macedonia had 8 full days for preparation and training for this match.
Macedonia
Macedonian national team travels to Iceland with high expectations and motivated partly because of the draw between Scotland and Norway this Saturday which boosts their hope and chances in this qualifying campaign. If they get result from this match then will go just behind Holland on the table. As I mentioned before this is small group in which the team should pick up points on every single game in order to qualify. Major blow for Macedonian squad is the absence of the striker Ilco Naumoski (last month`s match winning goal scorer against Scotland) due to yellow cards suspension, and also the midfielder Goran Popov is injured and won`t be playing. New name in the squad is Daniel Mojsov, he plays in the Macedonian championship but I don`t think he will get his chance because Coach Katanec rarely changes the team and believes in the players that have played mostly so far. Macedonian coach won`t give up the offensive 4-4-2 formation although I think the second striker that will play up front beside Goran Pandev, Goran Maznov (plays in Tomsk,Russia) is not fully prepared for this match and I do not think he can produce and be dangerous as Naumoski.
Macedonia will start with caution on this match and patiently making chances knowing the importance of the match.
Head 2 Head
Iceland and Macedonia have played twice before, it was back long time ago for World Cup 1998 qualifiers and only Macedonian captain Goce Sedloski is in the squad from back then he was youngster
I do not expect to see many goals on this match (if any). I think this match can go either way largely depending on which team scores first. Whoever scores first will have major advantage and possibly will try to keep the result. Reports from Iceland say that this match will be played on bad weather with very strong winds and rain so have that in mind too. I personally very rarely take ratings as a guidance when betting, but if anyone is concerned about that-Macedonia significantly improved on the FIFA list this month and is ranked as 46th and Iceland is 103rd. Low scoring game is most likely and that is what my bet is going to be.
