TipResumen

INTRODUCTION

Both teams failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia that recently concluded so now both sides will be highly motivated to reach the next big competition which is the European Championship in 2020. The Austrians did play in the last European Championships in France and lately they hardly lose matches. The Austrians lost just one out of nine previous matches, while several days ago they even managed to beat Sweden in a friendly. Meanwhile after the failure to qualify for the World Cup, Bosnia & Herzegovina plays better and are unbeaten in their recent matches as well. They started the League of Nations with a win over Northern Ireland.



BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA

This will be their second match in the group after Bosnia started with a surprise win over Northern Ireland in their first match in Belfast beyond expectations. It was also the first match for new manager Prosinecki and he had a lot of absences then as they had a lot of players missing, particularly in defence. In terms of statistics and match dominance Bosnia were under pressure the whole time, for example Northern Ireland had 18 corner kicks and Bosnia just one, but then Bosnia scored two goals from three chances created and that mattered most. The Bosnian defence was strong, only conceding a consolation goal in the last minute, while the midfield led by Pjanic failed to impose themselves on the match. Now the side are facing a stronger opponent in Austria so no doubt that manager Prosinecki is worried ahead of this match. As for the team news, Besic will start on the right flank and he will likely introduce some changes which will be forced upon.



AUSTRIA

Despite failure to qualify for the World Cup, Austria did finish the World Cup Qualifiers with two wins and after that they played a series of friendlies. Austria won the first five of those matches and three were played against sides that recently played in the World Cup in Russia. They managed to beat Uruguay, Russia and Germany but lost to Brazil by 3-0. After the World Cup, Austria then played a friendly with Sweden and they won by 2-0. It could be argued that Sweden didn't play their strongest side in that match however but nothing can be taken away from Austria's win as they played well and will no doubt give them confidence. Manager Foda didn't made much changes in their match with Sweden and now they are likely to start with the same team that played in the last two qualifiers which they won. Their only absentee will be midfielder Baumgartlinger who is out with an injury.



PAST MEETINGS

Their last meeting was a friendly in 2015 and it ended in a 1-1 draw