The Dragons will host the internationals of Wales at the Stadium Bilino Polje in Zenica at 20:45 on the 10th of October. The strong Welshmen will try to secure their place at the European Championship as they are on the brink of qualification being the current leader in Group B. There are only two remaining matches to be played in this qualification round so, in this regard, three points are simply necessary for the Dragons in order to qualify for the play-offs. The current standings in Group B are as follows: Wales (18 points), Belgium (17 points), Israel (13 points), Bosnia and Herzegovina (11 points), Cyprus (9 points) and Andorra (0 points).
Since the performances on the 2014 World Cup, Bosnia dropped from 19th to 30th in the FIFA rankings, while Wales have soared to eighth and are a point away from the Euro 2016 finals. However, there is a strong believe among the Dragons that they will beat Wales following the words of head coach Mehmed Bazadarevic who stated: “we have the strength and quality and we are the better team than Wales. Even though we have a lot of problems, I think the squad we have has sufficient quality to win the next two games. Wales are the group leaders and they are a good team but we will make every effort to get the results we want.” The problems that Bazdarevic pointed out in his statement refer to the struggle of reaching the play-offs in Group B and to a mini injury crisis. Most of these worries refer to SS Lazio player Senad Lulic and AS Roma star player Edin Dzeko. It seems however that Senad Lulic will be able to play and Bazdarevic is also expecting Dzeko to play against Wales. But at the press conference he added: “if it happens that we are missing key players, I think we have the power and we have to look for strength in other players.” Also midfielder Anel Hadzic is optimistic prior to the match as he said: “the team atmosphere is great, and certainly we expect a very tough match. It will be very difficult, but we are optimistic.” However, despite two possible wins, BiH is still depending on Israel who need to lose at least one match so BiH can overtake them and secure the third place in Group B which gives the right to participate in the play-offs.
The Dragons will have to keep a strong eye on the Welsh star player Gareth Bale. Although sometimes criticized for his play at Real Madrid, Bale is able to deliver great performances for the national team. He is the kind of player who takes his responsibility at the national team and has led his country, in all probability, to a European Championship for the first time in its history. In terms of international tournaments, Wales only managed to qualify for the World Cup in 1958. One could say that Wales currently has a strong mix of experience and talent. Besides Bale, other star players in the Welsh squad are Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal), Joe Allen (Liverpool) and captain Ashley Williams (Swansea City). At the press conference, head coach of the Welshmen Chris Coleman emphasized the great position of Wales: “it’s a great position to be in and I’ve said all along that with every game that passes and every time we win the pressure becomes bigger. But we’ve put ourselves in this position so this is the last push. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of us maintaining what we’ve been doing and that’s performing.”
The match in Zenica will undoubtedly be an interesting clash where stakes are high. In any case, the Dragons need three points and, at the same time, hoping that Israel will be unable to win their match against Cyprus on the same day.
Written by Dustin Giel
