The venue for this qualifier was the Rheinpark Stadion, which had the picture postcard backdrop of the snow-capped Alps glistening in the spring sunshine.
While the surroundings may have been pretty, the hosts’ recent form has been anything but that, as they welcomed a North Macedonia side harbouring genuine hopes of reaching a first-ever World Cup finals.
It didn’t take long for the visitors to stamp down their superiority, as Miovski eased his way past Sandro Wieser and rounded Benjamin Buchel before teeing up Aleksandar Trajkovski to head the ball into an empty net.
Blagoja Milevski’s side were looking largely comfortable, but almost conceded what would have been a stunning equaliser when Villiam Pizzi surged down the left flank and his subsequent strike nearly squirmed past Stole Dimitrievski.
Elif Elmas had an effort ruled out for offside down the other end, but a second North Macedonia goal came shortly before the break through Visar Musliu.
The Sint-Truidense defender turned the ball home with a brilliant acrobatic close-range volley after Isnik Alimi flicked on Enis Bardhi's initial corner.
Elmas also had a chance to extend the Lions’ lead shortly after the restart, when he drifted into a central position just outside the box and saw his effort go just past the post.
And he was involved in the thick of the action again moments later after being picked out by Darko Churlinov in the box, but his header forced a fine save by Büchel.
Soon after, Churlinov looked to add his name to the scoresheet himself, as he weaved his way into the box, but Büchel was the last line of defence once again. Miovski added a third when he expertly turned home Bojan Ilievski’s cross with a superb first-time volley to complete a fine afternoon’s work in the microstate.
North Macedonia saw out the closing stages very comfortably to claim a fourth consecutive victory over Liechtenstein without conceding, and have now only lost one of their last seven away World Cup qualifiers ahead of a stiffer test when Wales visit Skopje on Tuesday. Meanwhile, this promises to be a long campaign for Konrad Funfstuck’s side, who host Kazakhstan the same day.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Bojan Miovski (North Macedonia)
