Four years after the UEFA Euro 2012 play-offs, two nations are again at the same stage but this time Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Ireland will meet in a direct challenge for one from the four remaining slots at the upcoming UEFA Euro 2016.
Four years ago “The Golden Lilies” from Bosnia and Herzegovina were keen for reaching their first ever European Championship but the playoff draw met them against the strong team of Portugal and after the 0:0 draw in Zenica, “The Navigators” were ruthless in the second leg as they won with 6:2 in Lisbon. This leaves Bosnia’s target exactly the same – to reach their first ever European Championship finals.
Republic of Ireland was in the same playoff stage four years ago and “The Boys in Green” were the squad with bigger luck in the play-offs draw, since their opposition was the team of Estonia. After a 4:0 win (in Tallinn) in the first leg, the second leg in Dublin was only for the protocol and without big pressure Ireland drew with Estonia (1:1). Thereby Ireland has qualified for their second European Championship after the previous success in reaching The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship.
This time we will have history repeating because only one from these teams will book its tickets for France and both teams are eager for a summer near to the French Riviera, or wherever in France they’ll be located.
“The Dragons” started their qualifying campaign in Group B of the qualifying where they were next to the teams of Belgium, Wales, Israel, Cyprus and Andorra, as their first rounds were complete disaster. This caused the dismissal of Safety Sušić as he was the first ever coach who managed to qualify Bosnia and Herzegovina at the FIFA World Cup finals, but the poor form shown in the first week of the European qualifiers required some transformation. Thus Mehmed Baždarević became the new coach of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the 55-years-old Bosnian aims for the finals in France.
This goes through a successful two-legged matchup vs Republic of Ireland and we believe that “The Green Army” aims to the same thing. We must mention that Ireland were in one from the toughest groups as Martin O’Neill’s men were alongside the World Cup winners Germany and the teams of Poland, Scotland, Georgia and Gibraltar. Ireland had an option to qualify directly to the European Championship but their defeat in Poland, in the last round, was crucial and has left them on the third position in Group D.
Ireland will travel for the Western Balkans with hopes to squeeze a positive result which can be helpful for the second leg in Dublin. However, Martin O’Neill must pick his lineup without the injured goalkeeper Robert Elliot and the attacker Shane Long, while John O’Shea and Jonathan Walters will miss the first leg through suspension.
Everton’s midfielder Muhamed Besic is the only concern in Mehmed Baždarević’s roster as he is suspended and respectively will miss the first leg.
Our bet goes for Goals in both nets. We know the Balkan mentality very well and how the teams burn in these type of games. This can easily be a “double-edged sword” and Ireland can use the huge motivation in the hosts, which sometimes can play a bad joke. Ireland has shown some positives in the qualifying and we expect “Both teams to score“.
Referee: Felix Brych from Germany.
Venue: “Stadion Bilino polje”, Zenica.
Possible starting lineups:
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Begovic – Mujdža, Spahic, Sunjic, Kolašinac – Pjanic, Vranješ – Visca, Medunjanin, Lulic – Dzeko. (4-2-3-1)
Republic of Ireland: Randolph – Brady, Keogh, Wilson, Coleman – Hoolahan, McCarthy, Whelan, McClean – Keane, Murphy. (4-4-2)