Italy to suffer Nations League matchday 1 setback against Bosnia
Italy vs Bosnia-Herzegovina - 04/09/2020
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Italy begin their UEFA Nations League A Group 1 campaign on Friday night in Florence. Their first opponent in a very difficult group will be Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Azzurri and Bosnia have a recent history from UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying and the two sides know quite a bit about one another. Italy and Bosnia have met three times in their histories with two of those matches coming in 2019.
Roberto Mancini’s team claimed two wins from two in their Euro 2020 qualifying matches outscoring Bosnia 5-1. Although they claimed two wins last year, picking up a victory on matchday 1 of the UEFA Nations League is no guarantee.
Bosnia are under the management of Dusan Bajevic and the manager has his fair share of top players. Edin Dzeko is the team’s captain and all-time leading scorer with 107 goals.
Bajevic will be without one of his key attacking players. New Barcelona signing Miralem Pjanic tested positive for coronavirus ruling him out of the game. Pjanic is unable to even go to Spain at the moment and won’t be able to train with Barcelona until September 7.
Mancini has not had any positive COVID-19 cases. However, Juventus winger Federico Bernardeschi is ruled out through a muscle injury. Mancini called up Chelsea’s Jorginho but there is no place for Sandro Tonali.
Bosnia will have a difficult time trying to stop Italy’s rampant attack. Mancini will have the likes of Ciro Immobile and Andrea Belotti in the team’s attack.
Bajevic’s team tallied three wins in their last six Euro 2020 qualifying matches. Their last game in qualifying versus Liechtenstein ended in a 3-0 win. They also managed a very good 4-1 win against Finland.
Neither Italy nor Bosnia have played since last November. The national teams have had little time to prepare for the game on Friday night.
Due to the lack of prep time the teams have had in the buildup to the game, Friday’s fixture should finish in a low-scoring stalemate. Bosnia should be good against the Azzurri on the day as Mancini’s team are left frustrated in Florence.
Bosnia are an improving national team. They progressed from League B at the 2018 edition of the UEFA Nations League. Italy finished second in their group last time out
The two national teams are joined by the Netherlands and Poland in the group. It will be a tough ask for any of the teams to get out of the group.
Friday night’s fixture in Florence should end in a draw between the two sides as Bosnia step up to the big time and frustrate the Azzurri.
Home team
Away team
Pred
Correct score
Avg. goals
Weather conditions
Coef.
Score
Live
coef.
UNL
334027
X
0 - 0
1.67
23°
5.00
1.35
5.00
9.00
1
-1
-1
1 - 1(0 - 0)
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