North Macedonia have been offered an extra incentive to beat Portugal and qualify for the World Cup for the first time.
Portugal will not be underestimating their opponents at the Estadio do Dragao on Tuesday evening after North Macedonia stunned Italy with a dramatic late winner in the play-off semi-final last week. The underdogs have never played at a World Cup before, but after reaching Euro 2020, their Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski has declared he will pay the squad £421,000 (€500,000) if they overcome Portugal in the play-off final.
Aleksandar Trajkovski was the hero in Palermo on Thursday, firing in a 92nd-minute winner to down European champions Italy 1-0. North Macedonia will need similarly heroic performances to get past Portugal, who beat Turkey 3-1 to move one game away from Qatar 2022.
