Preview: Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Hungary

Bosnia-Herzegovina and Hungary will look to claim their first win of the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League when they face off in Zenica on Monday.

Having mustered one point from three matches, the hosts are leading Group A3, while the visitors are one point better off in third position.

Match preview

© Imago

After winning promotion to League A in 2022-23, Bosnia are now facing a battle to avoid an immediate return to League B.

Sergej Barbarez‘s side began their current Nations League campaign with a heavy 5-2 defeat to the Netherlands, before they went on to play out a goalless home draw with Hungary in their final match of September’s international window.

Bosnia returned to action with a narrow 2-1 loss in Friday’s clash against Germany, with Edin Dzeko‘s 70th-minute effort proving to be a mere consolation following Deniz Undav‘s brace.

With three games left to play, Bosnia look to be in a head-to-head battle with Hungary to avoid automatic relegation, while Netherlands and Germany are set to compete for promotion.

Having lost eight of their last nine internationals, the Dragons enter Monday’s contest with hopes of claiming their first win since beating Liechtenstein in October 2022.

They are also searching for their first victory over Hungary after failing to win any of their previous five head-to-head meetings.

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Hungary are sitting in the relegation playoff spot after drawing two and losing one of their first three Nations League matches.

They began their campaign with a heavy 5-0 defeat to Germany, before they took a point from their home meeting with Bosnia on September 10.

Marco Rossi‘s side collected another point from Friday’s home game against the Netherlands, although they would have been disappointed to miss out on three points after they found themselves in a winning position.

Roland Sallai scored his 18th international goal to give Hungary a slender half-time lead, before Netherlands defender Virgil van Dijk was given his marching orders in the 79th minute for two bookable offences.

Despite being left with a one-man advantage, Hungary could not stop Denzel Dumfries from meeting a late equaliser to extend their winless run in the Nations League to four matches.

Having won just one of their last six internationals, Monday’s visitors will be desperate to claim maximum points in their first away game against Bosnia since winning 3-1 in Euro 2008 qualifying in September 2006.

Bosnia-Herzegovina Nations League form:

Bosnia-Herzegovina form (all competitions):

Hungary Nations League form:

Hungary form (all competitions):

© Imago

Bosnia are unable to call upon Adrian Leon Barisic and Ermedin Demirovic, with the pair set to serve one-match bans for yellow card accumulation

Stjepan Radeljic is set to replace Barisic in the backline, while forward Haris Tabakovic could come in for Demirovic.

Ajax midfielder Benjamin Tahirovic is pushing for a starting berth after coming off the bench to feature as a half-time substitute against Germany.

As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon Loic Nego, Milos Kerkez and Krisztofer Horvath after the trio pulled out of the squad due to injury.

Endre Botka was introduced as a half-time substitute against the Netherlands, the Ferencvaros defender may now be considered for a starting berth.

Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai will continue to skipper his country, with the 23-year-old set to support Roland Sallai and Barnabas Varga in attack.

Bosnia-Herzegovina possible starting lineup:
Vasij; Gazibegovic, Radeljic, Katic, Kolasinac, Burnic; Gigovic, Huseinbasic, Tahirovic; Dzeko, Tabakovic

We say: Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-1 Hungary

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