Will Bosnia score an important three points?

These days, the first scent marks for qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA will be set. In Group H, Bosnia and Cyprus will face each other on the second matchday, and the bookmakers are tipping a clear home win. In addition to our protagonists, Romania and Austria are also represented in the group. We probably shouldn’t expect San Marino to have much of a chance of playing a role in this group.

We assign the role of favorites for advancing to the final round as top of the table to the men from the Alpine Republic. The hosts in our encounter at least have a good chance of finishing second, which would qualify them for the playoffs. However, Romania is a strong contender in this regard. For the game between Bosnia and Cyprus, the hosts are rewarded with odds of 1.24.

We expect the Cypriots to have no more than an outside chance of finishing in one of the top two places. Last year’s results were not convincing and so the guests will probably have to continue waiting for their first appearance in the final round. In the match between Bosnia and Cyprus, odds of 13.00 are paid for bets on the southern Europeans.

Bosnia – Statistics & current form

The Bosnian national football team’s appearances at major finals are very limited. The only time the Balkan team have appeared at a World Cup was in Brazil in 2014. However, they were knocked out in the preliminary round, finishing third in their group behind Argentina and Nigeria.

In last year’s Nations League, the Bosnians did not perform convincingly. In a group with Germany, the Netherlands and Hungary, they only managed fourth place and thus relegation to League B. Not a single victory was achieved and only two points were on the credit side at the end.

The only points were scored against the Hungarians (0:0) and against the Dutch (1:1). The Dragons were particularly beaten in Freiburg, when they suffered a heavy 0:7 defeat against the German team.

Bosnia must stabilize the defense

With 17 goals conceded, no other team had to retrieve the ball from the net as often as the hosts. Little danger was posed in offense. The team of head coach Sergej Barbarez only managed to get the ball over the goal line four times. Edin Dzeko and Ermedin Demirovic were the only scorers for the blue-yellows.

Successful World Cup qualifiers, the Bosnians

The Dragons have got off to a successful start in the World Cup qualifiers. On Friday evening, the Golden Lilies pulled off a somewhat surprising victory in Romania, picking up a very important three points that put them in one of the top two places in the group. The final score was 1-0 to the Balkan team.

The 39-year-old Edin Dzeko is the figurehead of his country. Together with Erdemin Demirovic from VfB Stuttgart and Marseille’s Amar Dedic, the hosts have plenty of attacking power.

After six home games without a win, they are hoping to finally get back to winning ways in front of their own fans this Monday. The bookmakers are optimistic and are offering odds of 1.24 for bets on the home side in the Bosnia v Cyprus game.

Predicted line-up:
Vasilj – Malic, Radeljic, Barisic, Kolasinac – Tahirovic, Sunjic, Gigovic – Demirovic, Dzeko, Dedic

Cyprus – statistics & current form

Cyprus is currently ranked 130th in the FIFA world rankings. The island nation has never managed to qualify for a final round. Reaching the final tournament on the American continent would be a big surprise.

Let’s take a look at how the Cypriots performed in last year’s Nations League. In League C, the southern Europeans faced Romania, Kosovo and Lithuania. In the group, if you will, everything went according to plan. The Romanians secured a comfortable victory in the group. Cyprus kept Lithuania at bay and ended up in third place, which meant they would be staying up.

The visitors only scored four times, showing how harmless their offense was in many games. Pittas, with two goals, was the top scorer for his team. The defense conceded 15 goals, more than any other team in this group.

Cyprus without a point in the European Championship qualifiers

In qualifying for EURO 2024, Cyprus failed miserably. The team of head coach Apostolos Mantzios conceded eight defeats in eight meetings and was without a chance. Last year’s overall record of three wins from ten matches speaks for itself. Besides Lithuania, only football minnows San Marino were defeated.

The Cypriots take the lead

And it was against this opponent that they kicked off their World Cup qualifiers on Friday. Mantzios’s favored team won 2-0 to top the Group H table. But that probably won’t last too long. The chance of defending this position on Monday evening is rather low. Between Bosnia and Cyprus, odds of up to 13,00 are being paid by betting providers with a German license on the guests’ victory.

Only two of the last ten away games have been won. Seven of those encounters were lost to their competitors. A victory in the second group game would be a big surprise.

Predicted line-up:
Mall – Anderson Correia, Panayiotou, Sielis, Satsias – Tzionis, Kastanos, Kousoulos, Loizou – Sotiriou, Pittas

Bosnia – Cyprus Head to head / H2H record

There have been four meetings between the two nations in the history books. The balance is absolutely even. Each team has two wins to their name and each team has so far managed an away win and a home win. The last time the teams met was in the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The Golden Lilies won 2-0 in Zenica and the Cypriots took revenge with a 3-2 victory. Neither team made it to the finals back then. There have been at least three goals in three of the four previous matches.

Bosnia – Cyprus Tip

The balance of power in Group H of the qualifiers for the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico seems clear. Alongside the Austrians, we think the Romanians and Bosnians have the best chance of reaching one of the top two places in the table. The hosts picked up a very important three points in Bucharest on Friday, causing a minor upset there. The good start should now be followed up by a compulsory victory.

The guests beat the football minnows San Marino and are currently in a good position. However, this pleasure is probably only granted to them for a short time. FIFA position 130 makes the outsider position against the number 74 in the world clear.

That’s why we are of course completely on the side of the hosts. The Dragons will follow up after the successful start and win the game confidently. We therefore recommend betting on a home win without conceding a goal in the Bosnia vs. Cyprus game at odds of 1.82 with the tested bookmaker Oddset.

We think that the hosts will seek an early decision and take the lead in the first half. Therefore, between Bosnia and Cyprus, at odds of 1.65, a bet on HT/FT 1/1 is a promising alternative.