Soccer-Late equaliser sees North Macedonia hold Belgium to draw
Soccer Football - European Qualifiers - Group J - North Macedonia v Belgium - National Arena Todor Proeski, Skopje, North Macedonia - June 6, 2025 Belgium's Alexis Saelemaekers in action with North Macedonia's Ezgjan Alioski REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski
SKOPJE (Reuters) -North Macedonia equalised four minutes from time to hold Belgium to a 1-1 draw in their World Cup qualifying tie on Friday and keep up their unbeaten start to their Group J campaign.
Ezgjan Alioski scored a superb goal as he latched onto a cross from Darko Churlinov that floated over his head before he met it with perfect precision to volley home.
Maxim De Cupyer's first half goal had Belgium in the lead as they played their first game of the campaign for places at the 2026 finals in North America.
North Macedonia have five points, with one win and two draws from their opening three games, while Wales took over the lead in the standings after they beat Liechtenstein 3-0 at home on Friday to move to seven points.
De Cupyer bundled the ball into the net in the 28th minute after Romelu Lukaku's initial effort had been blocked by the heels of a defender.
North Macedonia had a chance one minute earlier to open the scoring as Eljif Elmas turned into space in the penalty area and struck the ball against the far post.
The rebound fell for Alioski with an open goal in front of him, but he hit the other post in a major missed opportunity.
Elmas had the ball in the Belgian net two minutes into the second half but his shot took a slight deflection off teammate Bojan Ilievski, who was in an offside position and VAR chalked off the potential.
But the home side finally got rewards for their efforts with Alioski's goal keeping alive their hopes.
The group winners qualify for next year's finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States and the runners-up advances to the playoffs.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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