Doomed Bosnia & Herzegovina will be looking to hinder Ukraine’s pursuit of a second-place finish in World Cup Qualification Group D when they lock horns at Bilino Polje.
A thoroughly disappointing World Cup qualifying campaign has seen Bosnia win just one of their seven Group D matches so far (D4, L2), as they have nothing but pride to play for in Zenica. As a result, they have now failed to qualify for 11 of the last 12 major tournaments, including back-to-back World Cup finals. A 3-1 home defeat to Finland last time out means that Ivaylo Petev’s men have kept just one clean sheet in seven 2022 World Cup qualifying matches, conceding an average of 1.42 goals per game. Additionally, the Bosnians have claimed just one victory in their last 12 international fixtures on home soil (D5, L6 – 90 mins only), spanning back to November 2019. A lack of firepower up top saw them fail to score in 58.33% of those matches.
On the other hand, despite going unbeaten in their seven 2022 World Cup qualifying games, a return of one win and seven draws means that the Ukrainians are not masters of their destiny. Sitting two points adrift of second-placed Finland, Ukraine will have to beat Bosnia and pray for France to beat Finland to secure the coveted play-off spot. Curiously, though they’ve conceded an average of 1.1 goals per match in the ongoing qualifiers, the visitors have yet to keep a clean sheet in Group D, which could be a problem here. Indeed, excluding their Euro 2020 participation, Oleksandr Petrakov’s men have netted 2+ goals just twice across their last nine away internationals, highlighting how important it will be for them to keep a clean sheet in Zenica.
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