Ireland have suffered heartache in five of their last seven bids to reach major tournaments via playoffs, with none hurting worse than the loss to France in 2010, when Thierry Henry’s infamous handball cost them a place in the World Cup finals. “A 27-year-old Robbie Keane would be in the side, home or away”. The lightning Edin Visca was a threat all game down the right, and Ciaran Clark twice had to be alert to cut him out, doing well to divert one risky 48th-minute cross back to his goalkeeper.
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In the pre-match press conference on Thursday, Richard Keogh commented in that way footballers do when they are making noises just to get to the end of their media duties, that Ireland had goals everywhere in the team.
Despite being without several key men including John O’Shea, Shane Long and Jonathan Walters due to injury and suspension, the visitors acquitted themselves extremely well at the Stadion Bilino Polje, defending stoutly for long periods and taking the lead via a breakaway goal from Robbie Brady after 82 minutes.
With the fog getting thicker, Brady stunned the home crowd with a darting solo run and a clinical strike with eight minutes to go, though Dzeko grabbed a draw three minutes later after substitute Ognjen Vranjes found Bosnia’s top scorer in the heart of the penalty box. They have been a little bit up and down. A draw, which would be a great result for Ireland, is 47/20, whilst a win is priced at 15/4.
Moments later, full-back Zukanovic missed a far better chance for Bosnia, failing to get any meaningful contact on what was a free header from a Pjanic corner.
Room-mates and best friends to this day, their bond epitomises the spirit of an Ireland side whose mental resilience outweighs their physical capabilities, something manager Martin O’Neill readily admits.
The only mystery at half-time was why Bosnia had not made more of their superiority, but there was no mystery as to the paucity of chances that Ireland were creating.
Fans – not to mention the players, press and media – struggled to see all of the pitch.
Liam Brady: “It’s all coming down our left-hand side”. His effort back across goal, though, looped just too high, rather confirming the impression that Bosnia may be vulnerable to the crossed ball.
Randolph was on hand to prevent Senad Lulic from rounding off a fine Bosnian counter on 32 minutes, before Lulic had claims for penalty – following an altercation with Seamus Coleman – denied by the referee. They suffered through the tension of a play-off, but now they travel to Dublin with nothing to lose and expectations low. Retaining possession seemed beyond it and, for long spells, Bosnia dominated the ball.
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“We had a conversation after Scotland (a Euro 2016 qualifying game in June) and John was very supportive, and felt that this was the way that we wanted to go forward, and it was very pleasing to hear that was the case”.
