Take a look at these stats and tell us which team won:
Team 1 – 67% possession, 26 goal attempts, 8 shots on goal
Team 2 – 33% possession, 5 goal attempts, 3 shots on goal
Bosnia & Herzegovina – Austria Bet365 Odds
Team 1 is Northern Ireland, while Team 2 is Bosnia & Herzegovina, and the match finished in a 2-1 victory for the guests. How is that possible? Well, there was quite a bit of luck involved for the Bosnians and a lot of missed opportunities by the Northern Irish.
Despite the win, Bosnia & Herzegovina were thoroughly outplayed. Robert Prosinecki’s squad will have to improve significantly if they are to beat Austria, a team with 8 wins and a single loss (to Brazil) in their last 10 fixtures. Five of those wins were against World Cup teams, including the previous against Sweden five days ago. The Austrians are a very talented and highly underrated group, consisted of proven players such as David Alaba and Marko Arnautovic and rising stars such as Marcel Sabitzer, Michael Gregoritsch, Florian Grillitsch, Valentino Lazaro and Louis Schaub.
Bosnia & Herzegovina are led by Serie A duo Miralem Pjanic and Edin Dzeko, two players accustomed to scoring in the clutch. Prosinecki has also introduced some new names to the squad in an attempt to refresh a team which unexpectedly failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. The national side always performs better at home, although that hasn’t been the case in the last four matches, three of which ended in goalless draws (Montenegro, Senegal, Greece) and one ended in a 3-4 loss to Belgium. They will hope to turn their fortunes around against Austria, a team that the Bosnians have played three times and beaten none.
Bosnia & Herzegovina – Austria Bet365 Odds
Bosnia & Herzegovina 2.75 (7/4)
Draw 3.25 (9/4)
Austria 2.8 (9/5)
Austria has scored in 14 of their last 16 away matches. In nine of those, they have scored at least twice. Add the fact Bosnia & Herzegovina’s defence is weak and you see why goals should rain in this one.
Over 2.5 goals – 2.25 (5/4)
Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals – 2.6 (8/5)
