North Macedonia v Wales: World Cup 2026 qualifier – live
Key events
74 min: Elmas feeds Bardhi down the inside-left channel. Bardhi swivels and shoots but his shot is deflected out for a corner, from which nothing comes.
73 min: Pretty sure that, had Johnson scored there, VAR would have had something to say about the initial cross, which appeared to curl way behind the byline. But it’s all moot now.
71 min: Thomas reaches the byline to the left of goal. His cross takes an absurd deflection, looping over Dimitrievski who flaps straight into the road of Johnson. A shot is smacked goalwards. The keeper is out of the game, but Musliu clears off the line, and then the whistle goes for a foul. What a merry mess.
70 min: Wales complete some crisp triangles but don’t go anywhere in particular. The hosts happy enough to sit back and see what’s what.
69 min: Thomas to James again down the left. Serafimov sticks to the right shoulder of James and flatly refuses to let him cut infield. A determined dribble met by some staunch defending.
67 min: Thomas crosses from the left and finds Jordan James, who clanks a header way wide and yay high.
66 min: Jordan James rolls a pass into the North Macedonia box from the right. Moore, with his back to goal on the penalty spot, can’t trap and turn. Both teams in search of the opener.
65 min: Elmas races after a long pass down the left. He reaches the byline and hooks back for Churlinov, who chests down before pearling a rising shot towards the top right. Darlow, finally pressed into action, saves the day by sticking out a strong arm. Much better from North Macedonia.
64 min: Dan James is replaced by Moore.
63 min: Churlinov’s first act is to chase a speculative pass down the right. Too strong. Goal kick.
61 min: A double change for the hosts. Alimi and Zajkov are replaced by Churlinov and Atanasov.
59 min: The crowd bursts into warm, emotional, heartfelt applause. The significance of the minute clear and obvious. May all those lost rest well.
58 min: Elmas cuts in from the left and shoots. Rodon blocks. This is opening up.
57 min: Johnson dribbles down the left and cuts back for Broadhead, who opens his body and aims for the top-right corner. The ball flies towards the top-right corner of the stand. Then another wave, and Thomas crosses from the left for Johnson, only for the ball to bobble before he can shoot.
56 min: Dan James twists Alioski’s blood out on the right. His low cross should be blootered clear by Musliu, but the defender takes a fresh-air swipe at the ball, wrongfooting absolutely everyone. The ball continues on its path and whistles an inch or two past the left-hand post. Had that been on target, the keeper, his feet planted, wasn’t getting there. Johnson irritated that he two was surprised by the mistake, because had he reacted, he’d have had a tap-in.
54 min: Ilievski curls a cross in from the right touchline. Darlow thinks about coming off his line to claim, but decides against it. Williams tidies up. There’s not a whole lot going on.
52 min: Wales stroke passes left and right. Patient possession. The home fans getting a little antsy. Jordan James then takes a pop from the best part of 30 yards, an overly ambitious waste of time. Easy for Dimitrievski.
50 min: Elmas romps down the right and crosses long for Miovski, his only option on the other flank. Miovski doesn’t back himself to burst into the box, and turns tail. He then makes a futile chase for Bardhi’s misplaced pass into touch. Miovski furrows his brow and moans a bit. Nothing is happening for North Macedonia in the final third.
48 min: … but it nearly comes to life when Thomas feeds Jordan James down the left with a clever diagonal roll in from the touchline. James cuts back to … nobody. Shame about the final ball, because the move was neat.
47 min: A low-key start to the second half.
Wales get the second half underway. No changes.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: North Macedonia 0-0 Wales
Sorba Thomas should have scored. Other than that, nothing much has happened in front of goal. It’s still been a decent-enough watch, though.
45 min +4: A Wales corner from the right. Thomas sends it in. The hosts clear. Then Sheehan skittles Elmas from behind. No booking for Sheehan, but there is one for North Macedonia coach Blagoja Milevski, who is incandescent at this state of affairs.
45 min +2: In the second of four additional minutes, Serafimov is booked for a late rugby-style challenge on Johnson. He’ll miss North Macedonia’s game with Belgium.
45 min: Dimitrievski prepares to send a drop-kick upfield. Johnson tries to put him off. The keeper tells Johnson to bugger off. Johnson refuses. A stand-off. Then the referee arrives to offer Johnson some beneficial advice. Johnson smiles cheekily and jogs away. Dimitrievski launches it. What a lot of fuss over the square root of nowt.
44 min: Kostadinov comes sliding in late on Jordan James. Another possible booking, but the ref is in a laissez-faire mood tonight.
42 min: Dan James sashays in from the right and tries to ping Johnson free with one of those reverse passes down the channel. The pass doesn’t come off, but clanks off a nearby defender and nearly sits up invitingly. James can’t get there in time for a shot, before the ball’s hoicked clear.
40 min: Elmas jinks down the left and ends an elegant slalom by winning a corner. The set post leads to a panicked game of head tennis in the Wales six-yard box. Jordan James is forced to eyebrow behind. Corner number two coming in from the left … and it nearly leads to something special, Bardhi and Alioski attempting the old David Beckham / Paul Scholes trick. Bardhi cuts the corner back but Alioski can only volley wildly over the bar. Still, full marks for ambition, as the hosts finally spring into action.
38 min: Sheehan belts a long-distance shot straight down Dimitrievski’s throat. Wales definitely on top now.
37 min: Better from Thomas, this, as he zips down the left, gets past Ilievski, and skelps a cross from a tight angle that Dimitrievski is forced to tip over the bar. Nothing comes of the corner.
35 min: Wales are beginning to dominate possession, and the home fans aren’t particularly pleased about it. A lot of agitated hooting and hollering.
33 min: Daniel James plays a cute reverse pass down the inside-right channel to release his namesake Jordan into the box. A low cross finds Thomas free, coming in from the left. Thomas has to score, but somehow screws his shot back across the face of goal. That’s an awful miss. Wales should be leading.
32 min: Jordan James has his pocket picked 35 yards from the Wales goal by the extended leg of Kostadinov. The ball pings to Alimi, who starts to stride his way down the middle, only to show enough of the ball to Mepham. A crunching tackle saves the day for Wales. Jordan James owes Mepham one there.
30 min: The game restarts and Miovski tries to smash a shot through a crowd on the edge of the Welsh box. The ball’s never pinballing its way through that. Blocked. Cleared.
