North Macedonia’s players have been offered the chance to claim over £400,000 if they overcome Portugal in their World Cup play-off final tonight.
North Macedonia’s surprise win away to Italy in their World Cup playoff semi-final last week has set up an unexpected clash against Portugal. Aleksandar Trajkovski was the hero in Palermo on Thursday.
While Portugal beat Turkey 3-1 on Thursday to move one game away from Qatar 2022. But the country’s Prime Minister, Dimitar Kovacevski, has declared he will pay the squad £421,000 (€500,000) if they win tonight.
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Speaking ahead of the game, Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo said: “I urge the fans. I want hell breaking loose at Dragao.
“I went to bed last night thinking that I want the stadium to shut down the music for our national anthem and let the fans sing it a cappella to show our passion, our strength and union around the objective of reaching the World Cup. If our fans show up the way they can, we will win on Tuesday.”
Before he added: “Tomorrow is a final and we are prepared. Favourite? I don't quite understand that, but I always consider myself a favourite, home or away.
“'We already know that if we win, we're going to go to the World Cup, if we lose, we're out. We have a responsibility to be positive and win the game. Macedonia surprised and did so in many games, but I think tomorrow it will not surprise us. Portugal will be better and we will go to the World Cup.”
