England will face North Macedonia at Old Trafford tomorrow night (Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
England face North Macedonia tomorrow night in Group C of the Euro 2024 Qualifiers as Gareth Southgate's men look to continue a perfect start to the campaign
On Friday night they made it 3 from 3 with a 4-0 win over Malta at the Ta' Qali National Stadium
England took the lead after eight minutes when Malta defender Ferdinando Apap put the ball in the back of his own net. They doubled their lead on 28 minutes when Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold picked up the ball from a rebound and unleashed A powerful shot into the top left corner to make it 2-0.
All-time leading scorer Harry Kane made it 3-0 minutes later when he slotted home a penalty following a foul by Malta midfielder Matthew Guillaumier.
They continued to build on a strong first half and were rewarded for their efforts when Newcastle United's Callum Wilson, on as a second-half substitute for Kane, put away England's fourth goal and second penalty of the night to secure a comfortable win for Gareth Southgate's team.
Their opponents tomorrow night North Macedonia will be looking for something positive from the game as they are looking to bounce back following a 3-2 defeat to Ukraine on Friday night
It was a strong start for the home side who went into half-time 2-0 up thanks to goals from Enis Bardhi who made it 1-0 from the spot in the 31st minute before Napoli's Eljif Elmas made it two thanks to the assist of Stefan Ristovski.
Ukraine halved the deficit when Bournemouth defender Ilya Zabarnyi headed home from a corner on 61 minutes. The match was leveled up on 67 minutes by Yukhym Konoplya with a howitzer of a shot into the bottom left corner with the assist coming from Chelsea maestro Mykhailo Mudryk. With it looking like a valuable point for North Macedonia, upped stepped Viktor Tsygankov with another assist by Mudryk to deny the home side a vital point.
The Last time that these two sides met was in a European Championships qualifier back in October 2006 when they drew 0-0. In the reverse fixture a month before, a single goal from Peter Crouch was enough to give England all three points.
-
Team News
Gareth Southgate will look to make changes with Manchester United's Marcus Rashford potentially partnering Harry Kane upfront.
Manchester City pair Kyle Walker and John Stones are likely to replace Kieran Trippier and Marc Guehi in the back four as Southgate could resort to the classic 4-4-2 formation.
Their only injury concern is that of Arsenal's Bukayo Saka as he was taken off at halftime against Malta. Manchester City's Phil Foden could replace Saka should Southgate not be willing to risk the Arsenal winger.
North Macedonia
The visitors will be looking to make some changes to the 11 who started Friday night's game against Ukraine with a change in the back four due to Visar Musliu getting sent off against Ukraine.
Upfront, the only change might come from Milan Ristovski, but with 30 goals between Aleksandar Trajkovski and Ilija Nestorovski, they could be a stumbling block for the Three Lions.
Likely Line-ups
Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Alexander-Arnold, Rice, Henderson; Foden, Kane, Rashford.
Dimitrievski; Ristovski, Zajkov, Velkovski, Alioski; Bardhi, Ademi, Elmas; Ashkovski, Nestorovski, Trajkovski
-
Key Players
England - Harry Kane
Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane has been on the radar of some clubs for many years now and a move away from the Tottenham Hotspur stadium might not be far off.
But he has not allowed that to affect him on the pitch with Kane being England's all time scorer, with 56 goals in 83 appearances for his country and he does not look like slowing down anytime soon. On the club front he has been prolific with 213 goals in 317 games for Tottenham.
Still only 29 years old the only question is how many scoring records will he break? And will he be able to win silverware whilst at Tottenham?
North Macedonia - Eljif Elmas
Eljif Elmas has had a season to remember not only helping Napoli to their first Serie A title since 1989-90 but also to the last eight of the UEFA Champions League (where they lost to fellow Italian side AC Millan.)
He has also been decent with his scoring abilities scoring six times in 36 games last season. On the international front, he has only hit the back of the net once in 2023 but with 10 goals in 48 Appearances for his country, he still has a long path ahead in his career.
-
Match details
Where is the game being played ?
Manchester United's Old Trafford will be hosting tomorrow night's game. It will be the first time that it has hosted a men's international since a 1-0 loss to Spain in February 2007.
The only goal in that defeat came from the boot of Andres Iniesta.
Before that game the stadium hosted 12 of the 27 matches England played from 2003-2007.
What time is kick-off ?
19:45pm (BST) on Monday 19 June, 2023
How can I watch?
The game will be broadcast live on Channel 4 in the UK
