World Cup play-offs preview: Portugal vs North Macedonia, Poland vs Sweden

Wales need to wait to find out their UEFA playoff final opponent after Scotland's meeting with Ukraine was postponed until June, but there will be another two spots filled on Tuesday when the remaining four teams in their respective pathway lock horns. Here, we preview the action from the remaining two games.

Portugal vs North Macedonia

Portugal's 3-1 win over Turkey last week may have been comfortable on paper, but in reality; A Selecao were fortunate the game was not taken to extra time. First half goals from Otavio and Diogo Jota saw Portugal go in at the break 2-0 up, before Burak Yilmaz halved the deficit midway through the second half. The experienced hitman had the chance to draw Turkey level, but fluffed his lines from the spot with five minutes to go.

Second half sub Matheus Nunes wrapped up the victory deep into injury time as Turkey chased an equaliser as Portugal booked their place in the playoff final. They'll go into Tuesday's game with Joao Cancelo available after the Manchester City man missed the semi-final win over Turkey due to suspension. He should return to the side at Diogo Dalot's expense, in what may be Fernando Santos' only change to the XI, which would see Danilo Pereira continue alongside Jose Fonte at the back and Diogo Costa keep his place between the sticks.

North Macedonia sprung the biggest upset of the evening as they defeated Italy 1-0 in Palermo. The Lynxes endured an Azzurri onslaught at the Renzo Barbera as the Euro 2020 winners managed 65% possession and 32 shots in total, five of which hit the target. However, former Palermo man Aleksandar Trajkovski struck in second half injury time to secure a momentous result that means Italy miss out on a World Cup spot for the second successive tournament.

Blagoja Milevski's side set up a meeting with Portugal without suspended pair Eljif Elmas and Tihomir Kostadinov, though the duo should return to the midfield in midweek. Boban Nikolov was forced on the hour mark through injury and will be assessed. Bojan Miovski set up Trajkovski's late winner and he'll be hoping that is enough to displace Milan Ristovski up front in Porto in Tuesday night.

World Cup play-offs preview: Portugal vs North Macedonia, Poland vs Sweden

Probable XIs:

Portugal (433) - Costa; Cancelo, Fonte, Pereira, Guerreiro; Fernandes, Moutinho, Silva; Otavio, Ronaldo, Jota

North Macedonia (433) - Dimitrievski; S. Ristovski, Velkovski, Musliu, Alioski; Elmas, Kostadinov, Bardhi; Churlinov, M. Ristovski, Trajkovski

Score prediction: Portugal 2-1 North Macedonia

Poland vs Sweden

Poland were given a bye to their playoff final following Russia's disqualification from the competition by FIFA due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. As such, they played Scotland at Hampden on Thursday night as the duo played out a 1-1 draw, with Krzysztof Piatek's late penalty cancelling out Kieran Tierney's strike midway through the second half.

The stalemate, though, came at a cost. Arkadiusz Milik and Bartosz Salamon both sustained knocks in the draw and the duo have withdrawn from the squad altogether. Mateusz Klich is suspended and that could see Szymon Zurkowski continue in the middle of the park. Wojciech Szczesny and Robert Lewandowski both played no part in Scotland, but the key pair are expected to return in goal and up front, respectively, for Tuesday's huge game.

Sweden were taken to extra time by the Czech Republic in the other playoff semi-final, but eventually found the breakthrough in the 110th minute through Robin Quaison. Jan Olof Andersson's side had the higher share of possession at the Friends Arena, yet it wouldn't have been a huge upset had Czech Republic ultimately come away victorious in what was a fairly even affair

Dejan Kulusevski sustained a nasty blow to his cheekbone on Thursday night, though it would be a surprise if the Tottenham winger were to miss out in midweek. Crucially, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Emil Krafth both return following bans. The former is expected to start alongside Alexander Isak, with Kulusevski moving to the wing to accomodate the AC Milan star. Marcus Danielson put in a solid shift at right-back against the Czech Republic and could keep his spot here, despite Krafth's return. Martin Olsson was forced off on the hour mark in the narrow win, and his absence should see Pierre Bengtsson start at left-back.

World Cup play-offs preview: Portugal vs North Macedonia, Poland vs Sweden