Euro 2016
2015-11-16 - Republic of Ireland vs Bosnia-Herzegovina
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: Euro 2016 Qualifiers Play Off Second Leg
Monday 16th November 2015 - Kick Off 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
Republic of Ireland
If Martin O'Neill had been offered an away goal and his Republic of Ireland to return to Dublin with the score tied from the First Leg of this Play Off, he would surely have taken it. However, O'Neill might be wondering what might have been if his team could have held on to their 0-1 lead in Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday night rather than conceding three minutes later to settle for a 1-1 draw.
That isn't a bad result at all for the Republic of Ireland and likely makes them a small favourite to win this Play Off tie, although O'Neill won't be allowing his players to think the job is done. The Republic of Ireland did go unbeaten in their 5 Qualifiers in Dublin, although a couple of those games ended in 1-1 draws and they only scored more than a single goal in the game against Gibraltar.
After losing 2-1 in Poland to lose their 7 game unbeaten run, the Republic of Ireland will be hoping they have another long unbeaten run beginning with that 1-1 draw on Friday in the First Leg. The Republic of Ireland are unbeaten in 8 games at home since a 1-5 loss to Portugal in a friendly and they have won their last couple of games here by the same 1-0 scoreline over Georgia and Germany.
Bosnia-Herzegovina
The fog that enveloped the Stadion Bilino Polje might have saved some embarrassment that some of the Bosnia-Herzegovina strikers might have had after missing some chances in front of goal. The 1-1 home draw does mean the Republic of Ireland are favourites to progress, but Bosnia-Herzegovina know it could have been a lot worse having trailed 0-1 before Edin Dzeko scored a vital equaliser.
The pressure is on Bosnia-Herzegovina to travel to Dublin and score at least once to give themselves a chance of making it through to the European Championship next summer. This is a team that won just 2 of their 5 away Qualifiers in their Group and had to settle for a goalless draw in Wales which will give Bosnia-Herzegovina an idea as to how difficult it will be to turn this tie back in their favour.
Bosnia-Herzegovina have lost just 1 of their last 8 games coming into this one, but merely avoiding defeat is not going to be enough unless they score at least one goal in this game. They have only won 2 of their last 6 away games and Bosnia-Herzegovina have been beaten in 2 of their last 5 on their travels.
Head to Head
This will be Bosnia-Herzegovina's second visit to Dublin having lost 1-0 to the Republic of Ireland in a friendly in May 2012.
Prediction
The First Leg was intriguing up until the second half when no one could see what was happening on their television screens thanks to a ridiculous amount of fog in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Both teams will believe they still have control of this tie and I am interested to see how this Second Leg progresses. Of course Bosnia-Herzegovina are under more pressure knowing they need to score at least once, but they will have noted that the likes of Scotland and Poland did that in the Irish Qualifying Group.
The Republic of Ireland have scored in all five home Qualifiers played, but they will never blow teams away so Bosnia-Herzegovina have a chance. This is another Play Off tie that may easily see extra time, but instead of backing a draw, I think there is something in backing both teams to score which looks under-rated at odds against.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Republic of Ireland 1-1 Bosnia-Herzegovina
