Estonia vs North Macedonia
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Today’s free tip is in the UEFA Nations League encounter between Estonia and North Macedonia.
Despite beating Kosovo in their UEFA European Championship Qualifier derby mid-week, I hope to see a more professional, disciplined North Macedonia display today. I don’t think they were particularly good in that game. Worthy of a draw, yes, but Kosovo looked good. I would go as far as to say that, with Muriqi and Rashica on the pitch, Kosovo would not have lost that game. North Macedonia were not bad; it’s just that their defensive setup looked edgy. Unusually, it was regular goalkeeper Dimitrievski that was at fault on more than one occasion. Hadergjonaj’s equaliser, although a peach of a lob, was entirely Dimitrievski’s fault for not dealing with the initial ball properly, nor the second ball. Kosovo should have equalised in the second-half too, and although the Rayo Vallecano de Madrid man drew praise for the stop to deny them, it was his poor spillage of the first shot that led to that situation in the first place.
Still, Kosovo are a good team; let’s not be harsh on a good North Macedonian team here. Kosovo keep the ball well, press high with relentless energy, and never seem to give up. It’s tough to contain them. North Macedonia did a good job, all things considered, and won a huge game so should be buoyed for today’s game. A few minor tweaks are required, it’s true, but North Macedonia have a considerably easier game today. Estonia’s best days are well and truly behind them so North Macedonia should have things their own way here.
The visitors are still without backup goalkeeper Bogatinov and star midfielder Elmas, both through Covid-19. There are some doubts as to whether holding midfielder Ademi will play here too. I hope he does; there’s no replacement for his ability to play in front of the back four, nor his leadership, and even Estonia might forage a goal from somewhere if Ademi isn’t on the pitch. Still, everybody else is in good nick, and North Macedonia’s attack should be well-placed to devastate the Estonians here. With Nestorovski as a target man, support from Pandev, Hasani, Alioski, Trajkovski, Bardhi (he was particularly good against Kosovo), and Spirovski, North Macedonia will hurt their Baltic hosts. There’s so much depth in this attack of theirs that even Trickhovski’s regression (via age) is less apparent.
I used to like watching the Estonians some six, seven years ago, but not anymore. They used to have a really nice balance to their squad; a good shot stopper in Pareiko, a very experienced back four, two excellent central midfield dovetailers in Dmitrijev and Vassiljev, a good enough poacher in Oper, and boatloads of speed and target men. There were good alternatives, you know? They gave a shit, they worked hard, and they were really hard to beat.
Nowadays, though, they’re a far cry from what they used to be, Estonia. Most of their best players have now retired. The only one left of their relative ‘golden generation’ is Vassiljev, and his presence in this team tells you how desperate they really are. It’s time for a new era of Estonian football. The problem is that there’s nobody coming through that impresses, really. I am a big fan of ball-playing centre-back Karol Mets in defence, despite the peaks and troughs of his time at AIK Solna this season, but he’s not in the squad right now. He’s not the only one, either – most of their experienced heads are out of the squad – Anier, Zenjov, Puri, Antonov, Jaager, Aksalu, and Kams retired.
Estonia are hoping that youth will save them but the reality is that there’s little sign of that happening. Jakob Hein, Tunjov, and Kait are more noteworthy kids but it’s not much to look at, really. This team lacks quality, experience, goals, consistency, and unpredictability. Estonian teams are never lazy; that much I will give them. However, there’s no chance they can be effective with a squad like this. They’d need North Macedonia to be seriously charitable today in order for that to be the case, and in a qualifier, I’m inclined to believe that the Balkan nation will not give an inch here.
At the bare minimum, I expect an away win here as the game is something of s mismatch. I was encouraged by now freely North Macedonia pushed for more goals against Kosovo though, despite already leading. If they do that here, there’s no reason for them to not be able to handicap a very poor Estonian team. Therefore, I’m happy to climb aboard the North Macedonia -1 Asian Handicap at 6/5.
Verdict: North Macedonia to beat the –1 Asian Handicap at 6/5.
Sunday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
UEFA Nations League:
Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Netherlands
England vs Belgium
Croatia vs Sweden
Poland vs Italy
Iceland vs Denmark
France vs Portugal
Republic of Ireland vs Wales
Norway vs Romania
Finland vs Bulgaria
Northern Ireland vs Austria
Israel vs Czech Republic
Scotland vs Slovakia
Russia vs Turkey
Serbia vs Hungary
Kazakhstan vs Albania
Armenia vs Georgia
Estonia vs North Macedonia
Lithuania vs Belarus
Greece vs Moldova
Kosovo vs Slovenia
International Friendlies:
Tanzania vs Burundi
South Africa vs Zambia
Malawi vs Zimbabwe
Gabon vs Benin
Brazilian Serie A:
Fluminense vs Bahia
Santos vs Gremio
Sport Recife vs Botafogo
Atletico Goianiense vs RB Bragantino
Internacional vs Athletico Paranaense
Ceara vs Corinthians
Enjoy your free betting tips!