Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Iceland

Euro 2024 qualifying Group J gets underway at the Bilino Polje in Zenica as Bosnia & Herzegovina and Iceland go head-to-head in a curtain-raising fixture.

Bosnia & Herzegovina’s bid to qualify for a first-ever European Championship finals as an independent nation kicks off on home turf, where they’ve won the last three competitive matches by a single-goal margin. However, the Bosnians succumbed to a morale-crushing 4-1 defeat at Romania in their most recent international, ending a decent-looking six-match unbeaten run beforehand (W3, D3). After winning three of their last four home outings ‘to nil,’ friendlies included, the ‘Dragons’ should be confident about bouncing back in their maiden meeting with Iceland. Entertainment has been relatively sparse in Bosnia’s recent home matches, though, with five of their last six featuring under 2.5 goals and seeing the loser on the day fail to get on the scoresheet (W4, L2).

On the other hand, visiting Iceland’s only previous appearance at the European Championship finals dates back to 2016, but they’ve now failed to qualify for back-to-back major tournaments, including the delayed Euro 2020. Having missed out on the 2022 World Cup, ‘Our Boys’ will be desperate to get things rolling from the get-go despite going winless in seven consecutive internationals in the build-up to this trip (D4, L3 – 90mins only). On top of that, Iceland’s travel sickness has seen them go five straight away matches without a 90-minute win (D3, L2), while their last competitive triumph on foreign soil dates back to March 2021 and a 4-1 romping of continental minnows Liechtenstein as part of 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Since then, they’ve gone winless on four competitive road trips (D3, L1), netting under 1.5 goals three times in that span.