Bosnia H'vinavs.Cyprus

There were no great shocks as Cyprus beat San Marino on Friday to go top of the section, but Bosnia pulled off an excellent result in winning away to Romania.

Match preview

Comfortably the most surprising result from Friday's matches was Bosnia's win in Bucharest, with Sergej Barbarez's men making the perfect start to qualifying.

Bosnia had not won in any of their previous 12 games, losing 10, starting the match as the outsiders, but Armin Gigovic's early strike settled the encounter in favour of the Dragons.

That result may give the Bosnian people some hope for the year ahead, after a woeful performance in qualifying for Euro 2024, and a UEFA Nations League campaign where they were utterly out of their depth.

Bosnia were relegated from League A in the autumn, failing to win any of their six matches, conceding 17 goals in the process, and ignoring their two wins against Liechtenstein in Euro 2024 qualifying, they lost seven of their eight matches.

Liechtenstein were the only team who finished below Bosnia in that section, with the Dragons even finishing a hefty eight points behind Luxembourg, illustrating just how far they have fallen a decade on from reaching the World Cup.

Bosnia won their first match in Euro 2024 qualifying against Iceland, so few will be getting carried away at this moment, but it does give them a platform to build on, ahead of facing a nation they sit 56 places above in the FIFA rankings.

Cyprus did shock them here in 2014 though, in what was the first meeting between the sides, and the visitors won the last encounter too, 3-2 in Nicosia in 2017, despite going 2-0 down early on.

Manager Akis Mantzios will be seeking a repeat of that, with Cyprus entering matchday two top of the group, following a 2-0 win over San Marino on Friday.

Anything but a win would have been catastrophic for the Cypriots, but those three points mean they have already outperformed their tally from Euro 2024 qualifying.

That was under Temuri Ketsbaia, who massively underperformed in the role, and was eventually dismissed during their Nations League campaign in the autumn.

Sofronis Avgousti was appointed to replace him, but quit after just two months to take over at Apollon Limassol, so Friday night's win was Mantzios's first game in charge.

With Austria, Romania and upcoming opponents Bosnia in the group, it is unlikely Cyprus will stay top for much longer, but if they can find a first away qualifying win in over half a decade, it will certainly put the cat among the pigeons in Group H.

For that to happen, they will have to improve greatly on their performances in Euro qualifying and the Nations League, where they lost all eight matches in the former, and suffering thrashings home and away to Romania and Kosovo in the latter.

Bosnia-Herzegovina World Cup Qualifying form:

W

Bosnia-Herzegovina form (all competitions):

D

L

L

L

D

W

Cyprus World Cup Qualifying form:

W

Cyprus form (all competitions):

L

L

L

W

L

W

Team News

Sheffield United's Anel Ahmedhodzic remains banished from the Bosnia squad after his public falling out with the federation last year, while fellow defender Jusuf Gazibegovic is missing through injury.

Dennis Hadzikadunic, Denis Huseinbasic and Ifet Djakovac have all been left out of a youthful squad which includes just four players who have earned more than 20 caps.

One of them is captain Edin Dzeko, who earned his 140th on Friday night, and should captain the side here, but eyes will be on youngster Amar Memic, who was handed his debut against Romania, as well as the match winner Gigovic, who scored his first international goal in the win.

Despite the change in the manager, Cyprus' squad is entirely unchanged from the one that was named in November, but there may well be some personnel changes from Friday's XI.

Mantzios named a very offensive lineup against the minnows of the group, with three strikers and two forward-thinking wingers in the side, but in this trickier assignment, a more cautious selection is expected.

The absence of Nikolas Ioannou at the back will be felt, but Mantzios is unlikely to revert to a five-at-the-back system, given how unpopular that was under the stewardship of Ketsbaia.

Bosnia-Herzegovina possible starting lineup:

Vasilj; Dedic, Radeljic, Barisic, Kolasinac; Tahirovic, Sunjic, Gigovic; Demirovic, Dzeko, Memic

Cyprus possible starting lineup:

Mall; Satsias, Sielis, Panagiotou, Anderson Correia; Loizou, Kousoulos, Kyprianou, Kastanos; Pittas, Sotiriou

We say: Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 Cyprus

Things can only get better for Cyprus after a dismal few years, and this fixture will paint a clear picture of where they are at, and whether they can be competitive in the section.

Written by

Andrew Delaney

Previews by email