Macedonia vs Netherlands Prediction & Betting Tips - Handball World Championship

Prediction published on 13/01/2023, 14:12  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 14/01/2023 at 14:59 in Handball World Championship Predictions

The Netherlands got their 2023 Men's World Handball Championship campaign off to a great start. They beat Argentina 291-19 in Group F of the preliminary round. The top three countries in this group move forward into the main round, so it's looking good for the Netherlands. This is only their second appearance in the world championship finals and the last time they played was in 1961. Recent years has seen them making progress and that included a tenth place finish in the European Championships held last year. Getting to the main round of the world championships will be another step forward. They had a great second half against Argentina in their opening match winning it 15-8 after going into the break with a three goal lead. The win ended a run of three consecutive defeats but again tough oppositon including the Czech Republic and France.

North Macedonia are playing catch-up in this group. That's not surprising as they had to play Norway in their opening game and were beaten 39-27. They need to avoid propping up the group if wanting to play in the main round. A win against either the Netherlands or Argentina should secure that for them. North Macedonia are in their sixth consecutive world championship finals and only in 2019 did they end up in the President's Cup which determines the lower rankings. They have never made it past the last 16 of this tournament and although playing in the main round in 2021, they lost five of their six matches.  The last two European Championships have been disappointing for them, both times failing to reach the main round. Only one of their last five games has been won and the Netherlands can inflict another defeat on them.