Next up in our assessment of the Group F candidates is Bosnia and Herzegovina. Playing in their first major finals, Safet Susic’s team get off to a tough start against Argentina on Sunday June 15 at 11pm before squaring up to the two underdogs – taking on Nigeria six days later at 11pm prior to a clash against Iran on Wednesday June 25 at 5pm:
Road to Qualification
The Bosnians topped their qualifying group on goal difference ahead of Greece. With Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Liechtenstein also amongst their opponents, they won eight and drew one of their 10 fixtures and impressed at both ends of the pitch – scoring 30 times and conceding on just six occasions, they ended equal on points with the Greeks but went through as winners courtesy of a vastly superior goal difference of +24 to +8.
Most Starts Asmir Begovic, Emir Spahic, Edin Dzeko, Vedad Ibisevic (10), Sejad Salihovic, Zvjedan Misimovic, Senad Lulic (9), Miralem Pjanic (8), Haris Medunjanin (7)
Most Goals Edin Dzeko (10), Vedad Ibisevic (7), Zvjedan Misimovic (5), Miralem Pjanic (3)
Most Assists Edin Dzeko, Zvjedan Misimovic, Miralem Pjanic (4)
The Key Targets
Since clinching their qualification, Bosnia stumbled to a pair of 2-0 defeats at the hands of Argentina and Egypt before rediscovering their form a couple of days ago, beating Ivory Coast 2-1 courtesy of an Edin Dzeko brace. As shown by the appearance statistics above, Susic keeps to the same core of options, with eight players started eight or more of the ten group games, whilst in terms of tactics, he tends to opt for a 4-1-3-2 or midfield diamond formation.
Stoke’s Asmir Begovic is nailed-on in goal, whilst the likely back-four are all German-based. Schalke’s highly-rated left-back Sead Kolasinac (5.0 in FantasyiTeam) failed to play a part in any of the qualifiers but has subsequently started each of the last trio of friendlies and established himself as first-choice. Frieburg’s injury-prone Mensur Muj should take his place on the opposite flank, whilst Ermin Bicakcic and Bayer Leverkusen veteran Emir Spahic are expected to be fielded at centre-half. The latter notched twice in the previous Bundesliga campaign and also chipped in with a couple of assists – he’s the dearest of the two at 5.0 to 4.9 in FantasyiTeam.
Bosnia lack a top quality defensive midfielder for the screening role in front of the back-four. Mainly utilised further up the field by his club Hoffenheim, the versatile Sejad Salihovic – who produced 11 goals and five assists in the season gone by and comes in at 5.0 in FantasyiTeam – is favourite to get the nod ahead of Haris Medunjanin, though both could be fielded in a double-pivot if Susic opts for a more defensive set-up in the opener against Argentina.
Given that goals are expected in their two more favourable fixtures, most Fantasy managers will be focussing further up the field. Miralem Pjanic and Zvjedan Misimovic are the main targets – both produced four assists over the qualifiers, whilst the latter proved the more prolific by five goals to three. The 32-year-old Misimovic is renowned for a lack of pace, though, and could be more prone to being subbed off in the energy-sapping conditions; both are reasonable priced in FantasyiTeam, coming in at 5.3 apiece.
Up front, Edin Dzeko and Vedad Ibisevic have forged a formidable partnership. The City frontman led the way in qualifying, netting 10 times to his strike partner’s seven and also chipped in with four assists – as mentioned above, he continued his outstanding end-of-season form for the Etihad side by netting twice against the Ivory Coast and will surely be the recipient of significant investment for the final couple of games. Ibisevic is by far the cheapest of the two in FantasyiTeam, setting you back 6.7 to Dzeko’s 8.5.
The Long Shot
Similar to Salihovic, Senad Lulic also offers options in central midfield and left-back but the emergence of Kolasinac in defence has allowed him to nail down the left wing role. A regular under Susic, he started all but one of the qualifiers and arrives on the back of a decent season for Lazio, where he notched seven times in Serie A – you can pick Lulic up for 5.2 in FantasyiTeam.
Further Analysis
Group A – Brazil,Cameroon, Croatia, Mexico
Group B – Australia, Chile, Holland, Spain
Group C – Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan
Group D – Costa Rica, England, Italy, Uruguay
Group E – Ecuador, France, Honduras, Switzerland
Group F –Argentina
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Relevant Community Articles
Scouting Bosnia-Herzegovina by Demi, Scouting Bosnia by Christina, Fantasy World Cup Early Options by Bowstring the Trout, The World Cup – The Players by the Sarjeant
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