Turkey vs Bosnia and Herzegovina Predictions

During the last international break, Turkey experienced a mixed set of opening fixtures in their Nations League group with Russia and Sweden.

Manager Mircea Lucescu fielded an inexperienced side in their first match, at home to Russia, and paid the price. For large parts of the game, the young team failed to deal with Russia’s strength, conceding in the 13th minute. Whilst Turkey equalised before half-time through Serdar Aziz, a defensive mishap allowed Russia to regain the lead soon after the break. However, by the end of the game, Turkey were in control but failed to take advantage of this and a number of chances they were presented with.

Thus, whilst Turkey had not got the result they wanted, there were promising signs, which came more to light in their following game away at Sweden. Substitute Emre Akbaba scored two goals in the last four minutes to give his side a dramatic 3-2 victory. Earlier in the match the team had dominated but lacked a clinical edge, much like they had done so against Russia. Despite this, the goals from Akbaba and AC Milan midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu meant they got all three points.

Although the win was a delight, Turkey’s defence was still lacking to concede two goals and Sweden could have got a couple more if they had taken their chances. It should be a concern to Lucescu coming into another set of crucial Nations League matches.

Bosnia-Herzegovina had a fantastic start to their Nations League campaign, beating both Northern Ireland and Austria to sit top of the group after the opening round.

Despite being dominated for large parts of the match, Bosnia-Herzegovina took their chances with clinical finishes from Edin Dzeko and Elvis Saric. They withstood numerous Northern Irish attacks, whilst Ibrahim Sehic made several decent saves to keep Bosnia-Herzegovina ahead. It was the first competitive match for new manager Robert Prosinecki and although they conceded a stoppage time goal from Will Grigg, he will have been happy with the result nonetheless.

Things got even better for Prosinecki in his next match at home to Austria. The team ground out a 1-0 victory to ensure Bosnia-Herzegovina’s place at the top of the Nations League group table. It was a tight, compact match, with only three shots on target throughout the whole match. Once more, it can be said that Austria were on top for a lot of the game but the home side showed resolve again to get another three points. Talisman Edin Dzeko scored yet another goal to get the win and it looks like this Bosnia side will be topping the group come the end of the fixtures.

Thus, with both sides in relatively confident form and scoring goals, we think both teams to score is a smart bet to make. It should be an even contest involving teams of similar quality, so backing a 1-1 draw, given the nature of how Bosnia set their team up, could be a winner. Indeed, a draw is not a bad result for either team, in what could turn out to be a scrappy match.