Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Luxembourg
Bilino Polje is the venue as Bosnia & Herzegovina and Luxembourg meet in a high-stakes Euro 2024 qualifying showdown.
Qualification for a first-ever European Championship as an independent nation could turn into a pipe dream should Bosnia fail to bounce back from a two-game losing streak in Group J. After a clear-cut 3-0 home triumph over Iceland on day one, Faruk Hadzibegic’s men have lost two straight qualifying games by 2+ goals ‘to nil,’ trailing at the break on both occasions. But the ‘Dragons’ must be looking forward to Luxembourg’s arrival to Zenica, having won all seven previous H2Hs, including six without conceding. A narrow 1-0 victory in a friendly meeting in March 2022 launched Bosnia’s eye-catching five-match winning streak on home turf. While four of those wins were accompanied by a clean sheet, it’s worth noting that all but one featured a single-goal margin.
In the meantime, Luxembourg recovered from a two-game winless start to their Group J campaign (D1, L1) with a 2-0 home victory over group outsiders Liechtenstein last time out. Back-to-back scoring blanks against Slovakia and Portugal at the start of the qualifying campaign formed part of Luxembourg’s underwhelming four-game run without finding the net (D2, L2). While that’s now part of their history, Luc Holtz’s men brace themselves for a massive test of character, heading to Bosnia on a humiliating run of 16 consecutive away Euro qualifying fixtures without winning (D2, L14). But protecting their best-ever output in Euro qualifiers may not be as far-fetched for Luxembourg as it may seem, considering they’re unbeaten on their last four travels, all competitions included (W2, D2).