Bosnia travel to Iceland on Monday to compete in a fixture that both teams need to win. Bosnia claimed all three points when the two teams met in March, beating Iceland 3-0.
Iceland
Strakarnir okkar are currently sat in 5th place on three points in qualifying Group J, after suffering four defeats and picking up one victory, which came against last placed Liechtenstein who have lost each game and conceded an average of around 3 goals per game. Anything other than a win on Monday will see their qualification hopes come to an end.
In their most recent game versus Luxemburg, Iceland suffered a 3-1 defeat, which could have been much worse if their opponent finished their chances. Lille’s young forward, Hakan Arnar Haraldsson, is without doubt the best player in the squad and his future goals will be extremely important for his national team. Unfortunately for him though, his 89th minute goal versus Luxembourg was a little too late.
Bosnia & Herzegovina
After starting the qualifying with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Monday’s opponent, Bosnia suffered three consecutive defeats to Slovakia, Portugal, and Luxembourg. Throughout these three matches, Meho Kodro’s side were unable to score a single goal, highlighting the fact that chance creation and finishing is a problem. Bosnia are in 4th place currently and a win versus Iceland will apply pressure on those teams above them in the table, therefore claiming three points is a priority.
Bosnia did pick up a win in last week’s game against Liechtenstein, however the result was only 2-1, which is rather concerning. To put the tie into perspective, Bosnia’s odds to win the game was 1/50. They started brightly and scored twice in the first twenty minutes, before Liechtenstein scored their first goal of the qualifiers, with an absolutely unstoppable strike minutes later. Despite asserting their dominance for the remainder of the game, Bosnia continued to struggle in front of goal.
Verdict?
Both sides are underperforming in front of goal, but given the standings, both teams will have to attempt to win the game at some point. We should see goals, but neither side look good enough to win.
The final prediction is Iceland 1-1 Bosnia & Herzegovina.
