Asmir Begovic anticipates evenly matched Euro 2016 play-off
Friday 13 November 2015 17:13, UK
Asmir Begovic anticipates two tight games between evenly matched sides when Bosnia-Herzegovina face the Republic of Ireland in their Euro 2016 play-off.
Martin O'Neill's side travel to Zenica for Friday evening's match, with the reverse fixture in Dublin on Monday.
Republic of Ireland forward Shane Long has been ruled out of the first leg but is hopeful of featuring in the second, and Begovic believes the Southampton forward will be one of several key players for O'Neill's side.
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"Both teams have lots of quality," Begovic told Sky Sports. "I don't think there's much between us and Ireland so it's about executing in both games. It's about not shooting yourself in the foot, and I think it may come down to which team makes the least amount of mistakes.
"It's very difficult to predict so we must play smart. We obviously want to win the first game at home, that's our aim, and that gives us something to protect in Ireland, so that would be ideal. As long as you are in the second game, that's important.
"You can't win in the first game, but you can certainly lose it so we have to be very clever in our approach."
Long, who has been suffering with a foot injury picked up during the defeat by Poland in October, scored the only goal of the game the last time the two countries met in May 2012. That day the Republic of Ireland were preparing for Euro 2012, while Bosnia-Herzegovina's hopes of qualification had been ended by defeat by Portugal in the play-offs.
"Of course Long is a big threat, he's proved himself at Premier League level for many years now and we are going to have to be at our best to nullify the threat," Begovic continued. "They also have lots of other good players. A couple of guys I know very well from my time at Stoke."
Bosnia-Herzegovina endured a difficult start to their European qualification campaign, losing to Cyprus and Israel, but battled back with five wins from six games to secure a play-off spot behind Wales and Belgium in Group B.
"We've proved ourselves in the last two or three years with our results, especially in the bigger games," Begovic said. "We might not have got the result we wanted against Belgium [a 3-1 defeat], against Wales our results were better, but we didn't do ourselves harm in any of those games. I think when we play against the top teams it suits our game a little bit more.
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"These three guys [Edin Dzeko, Miralem Pjanic and Muhamed Besic] are key players, I think we rely on them a lot and they are the spine of our team," continued Begovic. "When you look at centre-forward and central midfield, it's a very important part of the team, and Edin is our captain as well. When those guys are on form it gives us a good chance to get the result."
Everton midfielder Besic is suspended for the first leg, but O'Neill's side will still need to account for Pjanic. The Roma playmaker has directly contributed to 10 goals in 10 Serie A games this season (five goals, five assists), and has a good relationship with Roma and Bosnia-Herzegovina team-mate Dzeko.
"People are starting to notice Pjanic's qualities, he's playing at a high level," said Begovic. "He's performed very well, especially in the Champions League, and he's scored some very important goals…he's showed his pedigree on the biggest stage in Europe."
Watch the full interview with Asmir Begovic on Sky Sports News HQ. You can watch the first leg between Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Republic of Ireland from 7pm on Friday, November 13 on Sky Sports 1 HD, and the second leg from 7pm on Monday, November 16 on Sky Sports 1 HD.
