€500k for the job vs Portugal
PORTO, March 28
North Macedonia’s surprise win away to Italy in their World Cup playoff semifinal last week set up an unexpected clash against Portugal with the country’s Prime Minister offering the squad ^500,000 if they reach the 2022 tournament.
The result shocked the soccer world and derailed a possible clash between the last two European champions Italy and Portugal, who both surprisingly missed out on automatically qualifying from the group stage for the World Cup in Qatar.
After the playoff draw the headlines were all about the expected drama of one of the two soccer powers missing out on the finals with so many top players in their squads and how a likely playoff showdown between them would be full of drama.
But North Macedonia did not follow the script and knocked four-time World Cup winners Italy out of contention. — Reuters
