Portugal vs Bosnia World Cup Playoff Preview

by footballnewsblog on November 11, 2009 · 16 comments

On Sat­ur­day 14th Novem­ber 2009, Por­tu­gal play Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first leg of their World Cup play­off. This is a really tough one to pre­dict for me, as Por­tu­gal have really strug­gled in the group stage and Bosnia appear to have a strong side. Sports retail­ers will cer­tainly be hop­ing for a Por­tuguese vic­tory, as they are likely to be one of the best sell­ing World Cup Jer­seys likely to be among the best sell­ing kits next sum­mer. Before we look at the two teams in more depth, let’s take a look at their qual­i­fy­ing per­for­mance in the group stage.

The first thing that comes to mind when com­par­ing the group tables is that many peo­ple will feel that Bosnia per­formed very well and Por­tu­gal under­achieved. I would cer­tainly have pre­dicted Por­tu­gal to fin­ish top of Group 1, but they were only a loss away from fin­ish­ing 4th!. I would antic­i­pate that Car­los Queiroz will lose his posi­tion if those play­ing in a Por­tu­gal World Cup jer­sey do not qual­ify for the World Cup. In Group 5, Bosnia-Herzegovina fin­ished behind Spain, but man­aged to fin­ish ahead of nations like Turkey and Belgium.

Por­tu­gal have far more house­hold names than Bosnia after you com­pare their squads, but if you look closer at the sta­tis­tics of a cou­ple of Bosnia play­ers, you will see that they have some dan­ger play­ers. Bosnia have two Wolfs­burg play­ers in their team, a team that have per­formed quite well in the Cham­pi­ons League this sea­son. The first is mid­fielder Zvjez­dan Mis­i­movic, who has scored 16 goals in 46 appear­ances for his coun­try. The sec­ond is striker Edin Dzeko, who has an impres­sive record of 14 goals in 21 inter­na­tional appear­ances. PAOK striker Zla­tan Mus­limovic has an even bet­ter goalscor­ing record with 13 goals in 19 games for Bosnia. These are clearly play­ers that Por­tu­gal will need to look out for. Por­tu­gal have world class play­ers at their dis­posal, such as Ricardo Car­valho, Pepe, Deco, Joao Moutinho and Cris­tiano Ronaldo, but although Ronaldo will be trav­el­ling with squad (much to the delight of Real Madrid!), he is nowhere near fit and is unlikely to fea­ture much, if at all.

I will pre­dict that Por­tu­gal will just scrape through this World Cup play­off, but unless they play to their full poten­tial, Bosnia will be the ones head­ing to South Africa in June.

Writ­ten by Stephen White­ford, a sports writer who blogs about the 2010 World Cup.

GD Star Rat­ing
load­ing…
Por­tu­gal vs Bosnia World Cup Play­off Pre­view, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rat­ing

16 comments… read them below or add one

1 emanuel November 11, 2009 at 7:23 pm

fcukk thiss shyttt
portugal is gonna winn
idc wut peoplee sayy
just watch the game on november 14
they going to kick asssss
waitt and seeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply

2 Munish November 11, 2009 at 11:48 pm

I think Bosnia would go through. It won’t be easy since Portugal play best when needed but Bosnian finishes are a lot better than Portugal’s

Reply

3 Resistance November 12, 2009 at 3:03 am

Please come on,… Bosnians will give them a big footbal lesson and they will remember forever. Since I spent my entire life in the sport, I will make very clear that everybody will get suprise with this Bosnian team.

Bosnia will win in Portugal…. 2:1

Reply

4 Mario November 12, 2009 at 3:07 pm

Bosnia??????? Wheres that?? Lol.. Portugal gona beat the S..t out of u guys HAHAHAHAHA… F..K u all

Reply

5 Nobody November 15, 2009 at 4:38 am

U mother.fucker !!

Reply

6 suki November 18, 2009 at 12:03 pm

portugal was lucky at home. 3 times we hit the posts.. today we gonna destroy portugal. but also ref is on your side. fifa president want ronaldo to be in world cup

Reply

7 sam November 12, 2009 at 7:41 pm

Mario, you need to educate yourself, you stupid uneducated fool, go to school and learn some geography you dumbazz!

Reply

8 The_Bosnian November 13, 2009 at 1:09 pm

Portugal will be hard to overcome, but not impossible. If Bosnian team gives 110% i think they will beat Portugal and go to SA>>>> I think the games will be great to watch, whatever the outcome!

Reply

9 mide November 13, 2009 at 3:41 pm

Portugal 1:3 Bosnia
sorry, but we are winner!!!

Reply

10 TZ - Bosnian November 14, 2009 at 1:21 am

Im from Bosnia and for some reason i like Portugal and speciali Luis Figo he was briliant player but in this game Bosnia and Herzegovina will win sorry my friends Portugals

Reply

11 clbuzz November 14, 2009 at 1:48 am

Watch Portugal v Bosnia Live Score, Highlights Fifa World Cup 2010 Qualifiers Results Online. Here comes another important playoff in the 2010 World Cup qualifying round which will be held between Portugal and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

http://www.clbuzz.com/portugal-v-bosnia-live-score-highlights-fifa-world-cup-2010-qualifiers-results/

Reply

12 mirza November 14, 2009 at 1:01 pm

Dzeko and Ibisevic. What else is their to say!!!!!

Reply

13 povucmedol November 15, 2009 at 2:45 pm

Portugal isn’t that good and we well proof that in Zenica. BiH is going to JAR 100%

Reply

14 Alvaro November 15, 2009 at 9:39 pm

My opinion: The best team should go on.I love Portugal and i believe they going to win,but if they do not maket congratulations to Bosnia.

Reply

15 antao November 17, 2009 at 4:58 am

no way… they are already leading.. it’s only a matter of time before portugal makes it now. lets see what happens tomorrow

Reply

16 bosnia bravo June 27, 2010 at 3:59 am

I Know im a bosnian but really portugal play better football but still if ronaldo gets hurt then COME ON BOSNIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: